An investor group including buyout majors Hellman & Friedman and Permira has agreed on a all-cash deal to take customer engagement software company Zendesk private at a valuation of $10.2bn, 41% down from a previous proposal.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC are also participated in the group.
The deal sees Zendesk shareholders receiving $77.50 per share, representing a 34% premium over its closing price on Thursday, which was the last trading day before the announcement.
Zendesk turned down an $17bn take private proposal from a group that included both Hellman & Friedman and Permira in February.
It then had its $4.1bn takeover bid for SurveyMonkey parent company Momentive rejected by activist investor Jana Partners soon after.
Zendesk and Jana Partners are said to be discussing a truce that involves removing CEO Mikkel Svane and director Carl after the company hired Qatalyst Partners to explore a sale in April.
Ryan Lanpher, partner at Permira, said, “Zendesk has reimagined customer service software and empowers businesses to transform how they communicate with their customers in an increasingly digital world. We believe Zendesk is uniquely positioned to enable meaningful interactions and deliver compelling business outcomes across any channel.”
Tarim Wasim, partner at Hellman & Friedman, said, “Over the past 15 years, Zendesk has revolutionized how companies serve their customers and has become a leading platform within the customer experience ecosystem. We deeply believe in the company’s growth opportunity as it continues to help businesses across the world delight their customers.
“We see tremendous value in Zendesk’s platform and ability to grow at scale. Its intuitive yet powerful offering serves over 100,000 companies, ranging from the smallest businesses to the largest enterprises,” added Stephen Ensley, Partner at Hellman & Friedman.”
Hellman & Friedman is reportedly eyeing over $30bn for its new flagship fundraise in March, just a few months after collecting $24.4bn for one of the biggest private equity buyout funds ever.
It was said that it was looking for a formal Q4 launch for the new fund.
The firm’s $24.4bn Fund X closed last July easily outstripped its already impressive $16bn Fund IX from 2018. It committed $1.8bn of its own capital to Fund X, making it the largest investor in the vehicle.
Permira held a $4bn final hard-cap close for its second Growth Opportunities Fund in December, beating the target of $2.5bn.
The new vehicle is more than twice the size of its predecessor fund which was closed on $1.7bn two years ago.
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