Technology

Private equity arm Evergreen to buy LogMeIn in $4.3bn deal

Deal expected to close in mid-2020 when LogMeIn becomes a privately held company

LogMeIn has a 45-day period in which it can shop around for better offers. Photograph: Essdras M Suarez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Ortenca Aliaj New York
Tue Dec 17 2019 - 20:40

Elliott Management's private equity arm has partnered up with Francisco Partners to take software provider LogMeIn private, as the activist fund continues its push into a space traditionally occupied by buyout shops.

Evergreen Coast Capital Partners, a software- and tech-focused private equity outfit that is wholly owned by Elliott, and California-based Francisco are buying LogMeIn for $4.3 billion (€3.85 billion) in cash at $86.05 per share.

The private equity offer gives LogMeIn shareholders a 25 per cent premium on the company’s closing price on September 18th, when it was first reported that the parties were in talks for a deal. Shares in the company were up more than 4 per cent after the deal was announced on Tuesday.

Better offers

Boston-based LogMeIn, a software company that acts as a remote access provider, has a 45-day period in which it can shop around for better offers. The deal is expected to close in mid-2020 when LogMeIn will become a privately held company just over a decade after it listed on the Nasdaq.

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Paul Singer's Elliott has been on a buying spree since Jesse Cohn, the fund's US head of equity activism, set up Evergreen in 2015. The firm has a tendency to marry its activist and private equity abilities by first waging a campaign before striking a deal.

This year Elliott partnered up with Veritas Capital in a $5.7 billion (€5.1 billion) deal for US healthcare technology group Athenahealth and Siris Capital to snap up Travelport for $4.4 billion (€3.9 billion).

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019

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