By Senad Karaahmetovic
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners announced today a deal to take a tax compliance cloud company Avalara (NYSE:AVLR) private in an $8.4 billion deal, including debt.
Vista will pay $93.50 per share, a premium of 27% compared to the closing share price as of July 6, 2022, the last trading day before media reports surfaced.
“We are pleased to partner with Vista and will benefit from their expertise in enterprise software as we build and improve upon our cloud compliance platform,” said Scott McFarlane, co-founder and CEO of Avalara.
Vista is focused on tech and software companies and manages about $96 billion in assets as of the end of Q1. Earlier this year, Vista partnered with Elliott Management in a $16.5 billion deal to take Citrix Systems (NASDAQ:CTXS) private.
“Vista has built a reputation as a preferred partner for founder-led, next-generation software companies,” said Monti Saroya, Co-Head of Vista’s Flagship Fund and Senior Managing Director.
Moreover, Avalara reported revenue of $208.6 million, +23% y/y, to miss the estimate of $209.4 million. The company also disclosed a loss of $0.63 per share for the second quarter.