PRESS RELEASE: Jive Software announced that ESW Capital, LLC, through its affiliate Wave Systems, is acquiring Jive and that Jive will become a part of the Aurea family of companies. The transaction is valued at $462 million. Under the terms of the agreement, an affiliate of Aurea will commence a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Jive common stock for $5.25 in cash per share.
This represents a premium of 20% to the average of Jive’s closing stock price during the three months ending on April 28, 2017. Jive’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the merger agreement and recommends that Jive stockholders tender their shares in the tender offer.
“As the leader of the enterprise collaboration category, Jive has pushed the boundaries in how people work together for the past 16 years. It’s this focus and vision that has enabled us to deliver industry-leading product innovation, attract a top-notch customer base with recognized global brands and achieve record earnings and profitability in the last announced quarter,” said Elisa Steele, CEO of Jive. “With Jive and Aurea coming together, we can deliver the superior end-to-end employee and customer experience companies require in today’s digital landscape.”
Aurea provides the technology platform and worldwide delivery capability to enable companies to build, execute, monitor and optimize the end-to-end customer journey across a diverse range of industries.
“Jive, in combination with Aurea, enables us to bring customer experience and employee and customer engagement together. We look forward to helping Jive clients get the maximum value out of their investment with Jive,” said Scott Brighton, CEO of Aurea. “Everything we do is driven by our singular core value of client success.”
Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including a majority of the outstanding shares having been tendered in the tender offer and clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The parties expect the transaction to be completed in June 2017. Following completion of the transaction, Jive’s common stock will be delisted from the NASDAQ and deregistered from the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Morgan Stanley is serving as financial advisor to Jive, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. is serving as legal advisor to Jive. Atlas Technology Group LLC is acting as financial advisor to ESW Capital and its subsidiaries. Cooley LLP is serving as legal counsel to ESW Capital and its subsidiaries.
Additional details about the merger agreement will be contained in a Current Report on 8-K to be filed by Jive with the Securities and Exchange Commission.