2024’s biggest US software LBO has some good omens

Smartsheet

17/09/2024 16:05

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Jonathan Guilford
       NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Blackstone
and Vista Equity Partners are close to an $8 bln deal for
Smartsheet that would probably tap loans backed by revenue, not
cash flow. That has bitten Vista before. But with style drift
more contained and peers like Thoma Bravo eyeing IPOs, past
might not be prologue.
    Full view will be published shortly.
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    CONTEXT NEWS
    A private equity consortium including Vista Equity Partners
and Blackstone are close to a deal to acquire collaboration
software developer Smartsheet, Reuters reported on Sept. 16. The
firms are discussing an offer of $56 per share, equivalent to an
equity value of nearly $8 billion.
    If successful, this would be among the largest U.S. software
buyouts sealed by private equity firms in 2024, according to
LSEG data. Buyout firms have signed over $55 billion worth of
deals for U.S. software companies year-to-date in 2024, a 12.4%
increase from the same period in 2023, though across 60% fewer
transactions.  

 (Editing by Lauren Silva Laughlin and Sharon Lam)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
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Jonathan.Guilford@thomsonreuters.com))