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Biz Break: Tibco agrees to go private, sending stock up [San Jose Mercury News](San Jose Mercury News (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 29--Today: Tibco agrees to go private as consolidation continues in the enterprise software space, and shares of Facebook rise slightly as the company introduces a new ad service. The lead: Palo Alto's Tibco in $4.3 billion buyout Struggling software maker Tibco Software announced on Monday that it would be acquired by Vista Equity Partners for about $4.3 billion, marking the largest tech buyout of the year. Vista will take Tibco private for $24 per share in cash, Tibco said in a statement Monday. Vista is paying a 23 percent premium, based on Tibco's closing price of $19.51 on Friday, Bloomberg reported. The private equity firm will also assume Tibco's net debt, nudging up the value of the deal. Shares of the Palo Alto-based enterprise software company soared $4.14, or 21 percent, to $23.65 on Monday. The buyout caps off a turbulent period in which Tibco's core software revenue declined and activist shareholders clamored for it to go private, Reuters reported. "The sale of TIBCO to Vista will provide our shareholders with immediate and substantial cash value, as well as a compelling premium," Tibco CEO Vivek Ranadive said in a statement. The deal unites the software company with Vista, a technology-focused firm with capital commitments of more than $13.5 billion. "We worked hard to make this deal happen because we understand the tremendous value that TIBCO can bring to its customers and the marketplace as a private company," Robert F. Smith, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, said in a statement. Tibco is just the latest enterprise software firm to go private, following in the footsteps of BMC Software and Compuware. The latter company's agreement earlier this month to be sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $2.5 billion marked the largest tech buyout of the year until Tibco's announcement, Bloomberg reported. And the deal-making may just be getting started. Daniel Ives, an analyst for FBR Capital Markets, predicted on Monday that slumping IT spending and heightening competition would drive more competition in the enterprise software space. "We believe this morning's news speaks to momentum in enterprise software M&A," Ives wrote in a note to investors. SV150 market report: Facebook up amind new ad service Although many Silicon Valley stocks were down, Facebook saw small gains. The company's stock climbed 0.27 percent to $79 as it rolled out a new service for marketers that will sprinkle ads across the Internet. The move is widely seen as Facebook's push to create an ad platform akin to Google's. Meanwhile, shares of Apple dipped slightly amid reports that the European Union's antitrust regulator will soon issue a report on the company's controversial tax arrangement in Ireland. The company's stock fell $0.64, or less than 1 percent, to $100.11. Shares of Yahoo slipped slightly to $40.52 as the company faces calls from some investors to combine with another struggling Internet giant, AOL. Shares of HP fell 1.13 percent to $34.97 as the company put a damper on expectations for its newly announced Moonshot servers. Silicon Valley tech stocks Up: Tibco, Cisco, Facebook, Netflix Down: Apple, Twitter, Yahoo, Oracle, HP, LinkedIn, Alibaba The SV150 index of Silicon Valley's biggest companies: Down 1.47, or 0.09 percent, to 1,602.98. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 6.34, or 0.14 percent, to 4,505.85. The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 41.93, or 0.25 percent, to 17,071.22. And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 5.05, or 0.25 percent, to 1,977.80. Sign up for the 60-Second Business Break newsletter at www.siliconvalley.com. ___ (c)2014 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |