On March 14, meetings technology company Cvent agreed to be acquired for $4.6 billion by an affiliate managed by private investment firm Blackstone. Once the acquisition is completed, Cvent will again be a privately held company and its common stock will not be publicly listed.
Throughout the years, Cvent has had a fluctuating history between private and public acquisitions. The company went public in December 2021 after a special purpose company acquisition and began trading on the Nasdaq. Prior to their public acquisition, Cvent was held by private equity firm Vista Equity since 2017, which had merged Cvent and Layon, another Vista Equity company, after gaining approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. Before Vista Equity, Cvent went public in 2013 with an offering of $135 million and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Blackstone acquisition was unanimously approved by Cvent’s board of directors and will close in mid-year 2023. “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,” Cvent founder and CEO Reggie Aggarwal said in a statement on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Cvent stockholders will receive $8.50 per share in cash, a 52 percent premium to the volume-weighted average share price over the 90 days prior to January 30, the day before media reports of the potential sale.
According to the company, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority played a “significant minority investor” role in the acquisition along with Blackstone.
In 2022, Cvent reported fourth-quarter revenue of $170.9 million, up 18.2 percent year over year. For the full-year, total revenue increased 21.5 percent year over year to $630.6 million. Cvent’s fourth-quarter net loss was $19.1 million, compared with $21.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Its full-year net loss was $100.3 million, compared with a net loss of $86.1 million one year prior.
With the recent private acquisition, Cvent will not issue any revenue forecasts or results for 2023.
MEET
