By Michael Elkins
Shares of Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) are up almost 13% on Monday following an announcement by the software company that its board has received, thoroughly reviewed, and rejected an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company for $71.00 per share in cash.
Blackbaud notes that its board is open to and regularly evaluates opportunities to enhance value, and the Clearlake proposal follows a recently completed, thorough review of the company's business, prospects and industry outlook.
The board conducted a review of the proposal, in consultation with independent financial and legal advisors. Following the review, the board unanimously determined that the proposal is highly opportunistic and significantly undervalues Blackbaud.
"Our Board is committed to driving value for all stockholders and regularly reviews our strategy and evaluates opportunities to achieve that goal," said Andrew M. Leitch, Chairman of the Board. "Clearlake's unambiguous statement that the firm itself does not need to be an acquirer is an overt attempt to put the Company in play opportunistically. Most importantly, the proposal disregards the tangible momentum in Blackbaud's business that we are confident will drive enhanced value for stockholders."
Mike Gianoni, President and CEO, Blackbaud, added, "Building off of a strong full year 2022, we continue to successfully execute our overall strategy and launched a number of key initiatives early this year that are already delivering results and support our overall objectives to manage the business efficiently and effectively, and drive profitability, increased revenue and cash flow. We are pleased with the significant progress we have made on our Rule of 40 strategy through the start of this year and anticipate accelerated improvement through the remainder of the year. We look forward to sharing more about Blackbaud's strong progress on our next earnings call."
Shares of BLKB are up 12.76% in early trading on Monday.