Vista Equity to Take EngageSmart Private in $4 Billion Deal (1)

EngageSmart Inc., a business-to-business software company, has agreed to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash deal valued at about $4 billion.

Under terms of the agreement, EngageSmart shareholders will get $23 per share in cash when the deal closes, representing a 23% premium to the share price on Oct. 4, the company said in a statement Monday. The shares jumped 12% in premarket trading after the announcement to $22.61.

When the deal is complete, affiliates of Vista will hold about 65% and affiliates of General Atlantic, which currently has a 52% stake, will hold about 35% of the outstanding equity. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. The agreement includes a 30-day “go-shop” period where the company can field other offers.

Boston-based EngageSmart, which went public in 2021, helps enterprises connect with their customers through cloud-based software. It had about 113,000 customers as of June 30, mostly small- and medium-sized firms across the health and wellness, government, utilities and financial services sectors.

Last year, the company reported revenue of $303.9 million and net income of $20.6 million.

The proposed acquisition is Vista’s fourth take-private transaction since October 2022, according to the company. It has since closed the purchases of Duck Creek Technologies for $2.6 billion, cybersecurity platform KnowBe4 for $4.6 billion and tax automation provider Avalara for $8.4 billion.

(Updates with company detail and share price.)

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Molly Schuetz in New York at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

Molly Schuetz, Graham Starr

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