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Zendesk (NYSE:ZEN) shares surged 50% in pre-open trading Friday following reports from the Wall Street Journal that a sale of the company to private equity firms is back on the table and close. The news comes just weeks after the company terminated a sale attempt as talks fell apart.
A private equity group that includes Hellman & Friedman LLC and Permira is now close to a deal to acquire the company and an agreement could be announced in the coming days, the report added.
While a price could not be learned, in February, Zendesk rejected an up to $16 billion acquisition offer from an unnamed private equity consortium. As of yesterday’s closing price, the market cap was around $7 billion.
The company has been the target of activist investors, including JANA Partners, and also in February shareholders voted down Zendesk’s deal to acquire SurveyMonkey parent Momentive Global (NASDAQ:MNTV).
JANA has been seeking to elect four independent directors to the board and has said absent a significant boardroom change to restore Zendesk’s credibility, the Company must be sold. It looks like JANA may finally have its wish.
