The acquisition of Zendesk has been confirmed. A group of investors is acquiring the CRM provider for €9.7 billion.
The group will pay $77.50 per share, 34 percent more than the current value. The group expects to complete the acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2022. In the meantime, market authorities can raise objections. Therefore, the takeover isn’t definitive just yet. The investors include Hellman & Friedman, Perma and the government of Singapore.
Tough year for Zendesk
Zendesk develops CRM software. One of the most important assets is a cloud platform for customer service. Zendesk’s solutions are used by more than 100,000 companies worldwide.
The organization is profitable. Nevertheless, Zendesk had a tough year. Earlier in 2022, a group of investors made an offer of $17 billion. The board of directors rejected the offer. At the time, that seemed like the right decision. Since then, the organization lost 20 percent in market value.
The loss has several reasons. In 2021, the board of Zendesk proposed to acquire Momentiv (SurveyMonkey) for $4.1 billion. In February 2022, shareholders voted against the plan. Jana Partners, one of the larger shareholders, stated that the board was out of touch with the market. Investor confidence fell sharply.
Indecisive
In an attempt to restore confidence, Zendesk had itself investigated by independent experts. The conclusion was supposed to guide future plans. The report advised against an acquisition. Two weeks ago, Zendesk announced it would remain public. That plan has evidently changed.
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