Elliott Investment Management and Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire software maker Citrix Systems Inc. for $13 billion, marking the first big leveraged buyout of the year.
Citrix shares fell $3.61, or 3.4%, to $101.94, giving the company a market value of about $12.7 billion. The stock had closed at $105.55 on Friday.
As part of the transaction, Vista and Evergreen plan to combine Citrix with Tibco Software, an enterprise data management firm that’s one of Vista’s portfolio companies. The combination will create one of the world’s largest software providers, serving 400,000 customers, according to the statement. Citrix’s most recent sale considerations came as Elliott took another stake in the company last year. It’s the second time Elliott has been involved with Citrix. Elliott disclosed a stake in the company in 2015, arguing at the time that it was suffering from poor execution and management and needed to simplify its business after a misguided buying spree. As part of a settlement that year, Jesse Cohn, an Elliott partner, joined the Citrix board, where he remained until 2020.