The large US-listed web hosting company Squarespace is being acquired by the private investor Permia for an impressive 6.9 billion dollars (6.4 billion euros). With this acquisition, Squarespace will also disappear from the stock market.
The investment company will pay shareholders in cash for the acquisition of the web hosting company. They will receive 44 dollars per Squarespace share, 15 percent above the most recent listed share value.
The acquisition has the approval of founder and CEO Anthony Casalena, as well as major investors such as General Atlantic and Acell. Casalena is also one of the company’s major shareholders. He reports that he sees the acquisition as a great next step in building on his 20 years of experience as one of the forerunners in the web hosting industry. “We are excited to continue building on that foundation, and expanding our offerings, for years to come.”
Following the acquisition and delisting, Casalena will transfer the majority of his shares to the company, which he will continue leading.
Squarespace activities
Squarespace offers subscriptions for website hosting to business customers and consumers, specifically for e-commerce purposes. In addition to access to the necessary cloud infrastructure, users also get the tools to quickly set up websites and possibly e-commerce processes. More expensive subscriptions also offer discounts and free shipping.
Next step for Permira
For private investment firm Permira, Squarespace is not the only IT company it has acquired in recent years. Previously, the investor acquired customer service specialist Zendesk as part of a consortium and acquired email security company Mimecast. The acquisition of Squarespace should be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
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