BY Richard Summerfield
Zendesk Inc. has agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by leading global investment firms Permira and Hellman & Friedman LLC in an all-cash $10.2bn deal.
Under the terms of the agreement, Zendesk shareholders will receive $77.50 per share held, a premium of approximately 34 percent over Zendesk’s closing stock price on 23 June 2022, the last full trading day prior to the announcement of the deal.
Zendesk, founded in Copenhagen in 2007 and now headquartered in San Francisco, is a service-first CRM company that builds software designed to improve customer relationships. According to its website, the company operates in 160 countries and employs around 5,450 people globally.
“This is the start of a new chapter for Zendesk with partners that are aligned with the strength of our agile products and talented team, and are committed to providing the resources and expertise to continue our growth trajectory,” said Mikkel Svane, founder, chairman and chief executive of Zendesk. “With Hellman & Friedman and Permira’s support, we’ll continue to execute on our long-term strategy with our customers as our top priority, taking full advantage of the opportunity we see to help businesses navigate the ever changing expectations and demands of their customers.”
“Zendesk has reimagined customer service software and empowers businesses to transform how they communicate with their customers in an increasingly digital world,” said Ryan Lanpher, a partner at Permira. “We believe Zendesk is uniquely positioned to enable meaningful interactions and deliver compelling business outcomes across any channel.”
“We look forward to partnering with Zendesk’s management team and talented employees to help them accelerate product innovation and achieve their growth ambitions,” said Brian Ruder, a partner and co-head of technology at Permira.
“Over the past 15 years, Zendesk has revolutionized how companies serve their customers and has become a leading platform within the customer experience ecosystem,” said Tarim Wasim, a partner at Hellman & Friedman. “We deeply believe in the company’s growth opportunity as it continues to help businesses across the world delight their customers.”
“We see tremendous value in Zendesk’s platform and ability to grow at scale,” said Stephen Ensley, a partner at Hellman & Friedman. “Its intuitive yet powerful offering serves over 100,000 companies, ranging from the smallest businesses to the largest enterprises.”
Zendesk has been subject to considerable private equity interest this year. In February 2022, the company announced that it had rejected an unsolicited $17bn proposal from a consortium of private equity firms to acquire all of Zendesk’s outstanding shares in an all-cash transaction valued at $127-$132 per share. The offer was rebuffed by Zendesk as, according to a statement from the company’s board of directors, it “significantly undervalues the company and is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders”.
News: Zendesk drama concludes with $10.2 billion private equity acquisition