Blackstone to Acquire Cvent for $4.6 Billion
March 14, 2023
Industry-leading meetings, events and hospitality technology provider Cvent Holding Corp. (“Cvent”) has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of private equity funds managed by Blackstone for approximately $4.6 billion.
According to company officials, under the terms of the agreement, Cvent stockholders will receive $8.50 per share in cash, which represents a premium of 52 percent to the volume weighted average share price over the 90 days prior to Jan. 30, 2023 – the day before media reports were published of a potential transaction.
As part of the transaction, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will be a significant minority investor alongside Blackstone.
Offering a comprehensive suite of technology solutions designed to power the entire event management process, Cvent boasts approximately 22,000 global customers in the corporate, non-profit, higher education and hospitality sectors as of Dec. 31, 2022. Since its founding in 1999, the company has helped manage more than 5 million events, and lists more than 302,000 hotels and venues as of Dec. 31, 2022, on the Cvent Supplier Network, an online platform providing tools to search, negotiate and contract with hotels and venues for event space.
“We are excited to share this announcement and look forward to our next chapter alongside the Blackstone team,” said Cvent Founder and CEO Reggie Aggarwal. “As one of the world’s largest private equity firms, Blackstone brings deep expertise in the event and hospitality industry, and with their backing, we plan to continue to invest in our business and deliver the innovative solutions that meet our customers’ needs and power the meetings and events ecosystem.”
According to David Schwartz, a senior managing director at Blackstone, the continued recovery of the events and travel industry is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes.
“Given our extensive experience in the hospitality, events and real estate sectors, we believe Blackstone is well positioned as a growth partner for this exceptional business,” Schwartz said.
Martin Brand, head of North America private equity and global co-head of technology investing at Blackstone, added that Blackstone looks forward to partnering with Cvent’s management team and continuing the firm’s innovation and delivering world-class technology solutions to event and hospitality customers.
In connection with the transaction, Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, and majority stockholder of Cvent, has agreed to invest a portion of its proceeds as non-convertible preferred stock in financing for the transaction.
“Since Vista first invested, Cvent has undertaken considerable business transformation and has been a testament to how we partner with founders like Reggie to help their businesses scale and thrive,” explained Monti Saroya, chairman of the Cvent board of directors, co-head of the Vista Flagship Fund and senior managing director. “The newly digitized events landscape, coupled with Cvent’s strong existing customer base and commitment to innovation, has provided a new growth vector in a post-COVID world. We look forward to seeing the company continue to execute on the opportunities ahead of it.”
Following the recommendation of a special committee composed entirely of independent and disinterested directors, the Cvent board of directors unanimously approved the merger agreement.
The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of approval by Cvent’s stockholders and required regulatory approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Cvent’s common stock will no longer be publicly listed and Cvent will become a privately held company.
Blackstone has received a fully committed $1.0 billion credit facility as part of the financing of this transaction.
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Partner Voices
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