Zendesk drama concludes with $10.2 billion private equity acquisition – TechCrunch

Zendesk has had a troublesome time over the past a number of months. It has been hounded by activist buyers, Jana Companions. It turned down a $17 billion acquisition in February believing it was price extra. Its buyers turned down a deal to purchase Survey Monkey’s mum or dad firm, Momentive the identical month.

At the moment, the drama concluded when Zendesk was acquired for $10.2 billion by a consortium of personal fairness corporations, nicely beneath that authentic supply.

However the SaaS market has shifted dramatically over the previous few months, and Zendesk has been caught in the course of it in a maelstrom of investor drama. Earlier this month, the corporate concluded it will keep impartial, a transfer that brought on the inventory value to plunge.

Now it’s been bought to an investor group led by Permira and Hellman & Friedman. Zendesk inventory froze at 57.95 per share this morning with a market cap of $7.1 billion. The deal is for $77.50 per share, a 34% premium over yesterday’s value, based on a press release from the corporate, however nonetheless nicely beneath the $17 billion non-public fairness supply in February.

Extra to come back. This can be a breaking story.