Citrix’s $16.5 Billion Sale to Elliott, Vista Hit With Challenge

Citrix Systems Inc. ex-investors are suing its former chairman over the software giant’s $16.5 billion leveraged buyout by affiliates of Vista Equity Partners Management LLC and Elliott Investment Management LP.

The proposed class action targets Robert Calderoni, who was also Citrix’s interim CEO at the time of the transaction. The lawsuit says Calderoni—driven by loyalty to Elliott—deflated the company’s financial forecasts to justify ever-lower bids by the activist buyout firm, which had spent years trying to force a sale.

With Citrix’s share price weighed down by the pandemic and its transition to a software-as-a-service business model, Elliott “pounced,” according to ...