Events software provider Cvent accepts Blackstone’s $4.6 billion deal

(Reuters) -Buyout firm Blackstone Inc agreed to purchase U.S. cloud-based event-software provider Cvent Holding Corp in a deal valued at $4.6 billion, at a time when private equity firms are looking to scoop up tech companies for a bargain price.

A rout in tech stocks last year shrank company valuations, making them enticing targets for private equity suitors.

Cvent was valued at $5.3 billion in 2021 when Vista, which had acquired it for $1.65 billion a few years ago, took it public in a merger with a blank-check acquisition company.

Blackstone’s offer price of $8.50 per share, gives Cvent an equity value of $4.15 billion and represents a premium of about 29% from Jan. 30, a day before media reports of a potential deal surfaced.

Tysons, Virginia-based Cvent’s shares, which fell about 34% last year, rose about 12% to $8.29 on Tuesday.

Reuters reported last month that Cvent had rejected a previous offer of $3.9 billion from Blackstone and said it was exploring a sale that could value it at about $4 billion, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Cvent on Tuesday posted a loss of $100.3 million in 2022, wider than $86.1 million it reported a year earlier.

Rajeev Aggarwal, founder and chief executive, said in November while the company is likely to take a hit from a potential recession, it also expected to win market share.

Blackstone said it has received a $1 billion credit facility as part of the financing for the deal.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)