Citrix to be taken private by Vista, Elliott in $16.5bn deal

US software maker Citrix has agreed to be bought by affiliates of Elliott Investment Management and Vista Equity Partners for $16.5bn in cash.

Under the terms of the deal, Citrix shareholders will receive $104.00 per share. This is a 30% premium to the price on 7 December, which was the last trading day before speculation about a deal and a 24% premium to the price on 20 December, which was the last trading day prior to media reports about a potential bid from Vista and Evergreen.

As part of the transaction, Vista and Evergreen - an affiliate of Elliott - plan to combine Citrix and TIBCO Software, which is one of Vista’s portfolio companies. The combination brings together Citrix’s secure digital workspace and application delivery suite with TIBCO’s real-time intelligent data and analytics.

Citrix said it will create one of the world’s largest software providers, serving 400,000 customers, including 98% of the Fortune 500, with 100m users in 100 countries.

The company’s chair, interim chief executive and president, Bob Calderoni, said: "Over the past three decades, Citrix has established itself as the clear leader in secure hybrid work. Our market-leading platform provides secure and reliable access to all of the applications and information employees need to get work done, wherever it needs to get done. By combining with TIBCO, we will expand this platform and the outcomes our customers achieve.

"Together with TIBCO, we will be able to operate with greater scale and provide a larger customer base with a broader range of solutions to accelerate their digital transformations and enable them to deliver the future of hybrid work. As a private company, we will have increased financial and strategic flexibility to invest in high-growth opportunities, such as DaaS, and accelerate its ongoing cloud transition."