- GeneralM&A
- January 19, 2021
- 5 minutes read
Vista Buys Wrike For $800M, Flips For $2.25B To Citrix
In 2018, the tech-focused private equity firm Vista Equity Partners bought a majority stake in the project management software company…
In 2018, the tech-focused private equity firm Vista Equity Partners bought a majority stake in the project management software company Wrike for a reported $800 million. Now, just under three years later, it’s flipped the company for a price of $2.25 billion, nearly triple what it paid for it. The software giant Citrix was the acquirer.
Citrix has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Wrike for $2.25 billion in cash, clinching a sweet profit for Vista. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2021.
Wrike as a company was founded in 2006 and bootstrapped for a few years before taking venture funding later on. Prior to being acquired by Vista in an $800 million deal, the company had raised a relatively paltry $26 million in venture funding. With a big exit to Vista, it continued to grow and ended 2020 with a $140 million annual run rate and says it expects a 30% jump to between $180 million and $190 million this year.
To help fund Wrike’s acquisition, Citrix says that it’s secured a $1.45 billion debt facility from JPMorgan Chase Bank. It’s a 364-day bridge loan facility.
Upon the completion of the acquisition, Wrike will continue to be led by its Founder and CEO Andrew Filev as an independent unit under Citrix. Filev will then report to Citrix’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Arlen Shenkman.
Photo: Vista Equity Partners CEO Robert Smith, credit: World Economic Forum, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
