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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), UAE’s largest wealth fund, is part of the Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners consortium that acquired US software provider Smartsheet Inc. in an $8.4 billion deal this week.
The Abu Dhabi investor was named in a separate SEC filing dated 24 September 2024, which listed ADIA as one of the buyout firms paying $56.50 per share in an all-cash transaction deal.
The price represented a premium of approximately 41% to the volume weighted average closing price of Smartsheet stock for the 90 trading days ending on 17 July 2024, the last full trading day prior to media reports regarding a possible sale.
The merger agreement for the transaction includes a 45-day ‘go-shop’ period that expires on 8 November 2024, which allows Smartsheet and its advisors to solicit alternative acquisition proposals from certain third parties, and potentially enter negotiations for alternative acquisition proposals.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Smartsheet’s fiscal year ending 31 January 2025, subject to approval and regulatory clearances.
Qatalyst Partners acted as the financial advisor to Smartsheet, with Fenwick & West LLP as legal counsel.
Goldman Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. acted as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are acting as legal counsel to Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners.
(Reporting by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
