Clearlake sweetens offer to buy out Blackbaud to $4.3 billion
Technology
Clearlake sweetens offer to buy out Blackbaud to $4.3 billion
(Reuters) - Blackbaud's largest shareholder Clearlake Capital Group has made a fresh buy-out offer that values the cloud software provider at $4.3 billion, the company said on Monday.
The raised offer values each share of Blackbaud at $80, representing a premium of 4.3% to its last close.
Clearlake said in a letter to Blackbaud's board that it intends to discuss the terms of the new proposal with the company.
Blackbaud's shares were trading 2% higher in premarket trading.
Last year, Clearlake had made an all-cash offer of $71 per share that Blackbaud rejected, claiming it undervalued the company.
Private equity firm Clearlake had made an initial investment in Blackbaud in 2020. It currently owns an 18.3% stake in the company, according to data from LSEG.
Clearlake has bought several other software firms as well, such as Cornerstone OnDemand and Quest Software, betting on the booming demand for cloud services.
In March, Blackbaud's board terminated the shareholder rights plan, a "poison pill" it had adopted in October 2022, to prevent any entity from acquiring a stake of more than 20%.
