GTCR Valor Merger Sub, Inc., a GTCR LLC affiliate, announced earlier this month it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire in cash Vocus, Inc., a cloud-based marketing and public relations software provider in a transaction valued at $446.5 million, according to a Vocus press statement.
GTCR will under the definitive merger agreement commence a tender offer to acquire Vocus’s outstanding common stock shares at $18 per share. The Vocus board of directors unanimously endorsed the acquisition with one director abstaining from voting.
With Vocus Directors recommending company stockholders tender their shares, Vocus CEO Rick Rudman said the agreement provides shareholders an opportunity to realize cash value for their investments at a premium to historic share prices: “For our employees and customers, we believe that joining forces with GTCR creates a significant opportunity to utilize each other’s strengths and move even faster toward our vision of creating innovative software and making our customers successful,” Rudman said.
GTCR will acquire shares not tendered in the offer in a second-step merger at the same cash price paid in the offer.
“We are very pleased to announce this transaction and partner with Vocus to help maximize its growth potential,” said Mark Anderson, a Managing Director for GTCR. “Vocus has a demonstrated history of building innovative software and helping customers achieve success. We look forward to the opportunity to work with Vocus to enhance its industry leadership.”
Vocus said earlier this month it expects the transaction to close before the end of the second quarter of 2014.
The transaction’s financial advisor is Stifel, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as Vocus’ legal counsel.
GTCR is a Chicago-based private equity firm founded in 1980 that invests in growth among companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Information Services, Healthcare and & Technology industries.
The organization has invested more than $10 billion in approximately 200 companies.
The transaction’s close is conditioned upon clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, satisfaction of the minimum tender condition and receipt of funding under customary financial agreements.
Beltsville, Md.-based Vocus will become a private company at the close of the transaction.
