Cloud-based spend management solutions provider SCiQuest announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Accel-KKR in a $509 million deal. The announcement sent SciQuest’s shares soaring by 33%.
Under the terms of the transaction, Accel-KKR would pay $17.75 per share in cash to take the Morrisville, N.C.-based company private. The offer is a 34% premium to the closing price of SciQuest shares on May 27. Accel-KKR, which currently owns 4.9% of SciQuest’s outstanding shares, would own 100% of shares after the deal closes, expected in the third quarter.
“As longstanding and significant investors in SciQuest, we have been impressed by the breadth, depth, and cohesiveness of the company’s leading technology,” Accel-KKR’s managing director Tom Barnds said in a press release. “We look forward to partnering with the SciQuest team to continue to accelerate innovation and bring value to customers in this large and growing market.”
SciQuest’s chief executive Stephen Wiehe said in the same release that as a private company, SciQuest would “to continue to accelerate innovation, increase efficiency, and expand our solution suite.”
Despite relatively consistent revenue growth since 2014, SciQuest has underperformed the S&P 500 the past two years. It switched CFOs a year ago, when Jennifer G. Kaelin returned to head the SciQuest finance team as CFO and principal accounting officer. She replaced Rudy C. Howard, who shepherded the company through its IPO in 2010.