Active Network To Be Taken Private By Vista Equity Partners In $1.05 Bln Deal

(RTTNews) - Technology and media company Active Network, Inc. (ACTV) agreed Monday to be taken private for $14.50 per share in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.05 billion by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Active Network expects the deal to close before the end of the fourth quarter.

"ACTIVE Network's leadership position in cloud-based Activity and Participant Management™ (APM) solutions make it a highly attractive investment for us. We are looking forward to working with the ACTIVE team and continuing to drive the next phase of ACTIVE's growth," Vista Equity founder and CEO Robert Smith said in a statement.

The offer price of $14.50 represents a 27.2 percent premium over Active Network's closing share price of $11.40 on Friday. It also represents an 111 percent premium over Active Network's year to date average closing share price.

The deal has been unanimously recommended by Active Network Board of Directors for its stockholders to tender their shares in the tender offer.

The deal will see Vista Equity launch a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Active Network's common stock. The company noted that any shares not tendered in the offer will be acquired in a second-step merger at the offer price.

The closure of the deal is primarily subject to satisfaction of a minimum tender condition and receipt of funding under Vista's financing agreements. Upon closure, Active Network will become a privately held company.

San Diego, California-based Active Network said it intends its third quarter earnings after market close on Wednesday, October 30, 2013.

"This announcement represents a very positive event for our stockholders and allows ACTIVE to build on its success to date. We believe the partnership with Vista will position us to execute on our strategy and further enhance our industry leadership," Active Network interim CEO Jon Belmonte stated.

Active Network had on August 1 announced the formation of a strategic transactions committee to consider and evaluate strategic alternatives as it had received expressions of interest from outside parties ranging from an investment in it to an acquisition. The board then retained Citi as financial adviser to assist in this process.

Private equity firms Thomas Bravo LLC and GTCR LLC were also said in the fray to acquire Active Network.

Austin, Texas-based Vista Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on investments in software, data and technology-enabled businesses.

The private equity firm currently invests over $7 billion in capital committed to technology-based organizations. The company completed the $1 billion acquisition of California-based web security software maker Websense, Inc. in late June.

It also agreed on August 23 to acquire the North and Latin American transportation and logistics business of mobile chip maker Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM), which is called Omnitracs, Inc., for $800 million in cash.

ACTV closed Friday's regular trading session at $11.40, up $0.15 on a volume of 0.53 million shares.