Dive Brief:

• Hospitality technology provider Cvent has been acquired by private equity firm Blackstone in a $4.6 billion deal. 
• Alongside Blackstone, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will be a significant minority investor, according to a release.
• The deal returns Cvent to private ownership after it had gone public in 2021 as part of a merger with Dragoneer Investment Group. 

Dive Insight:

Blackstone’s acquisition of Cvent represents yet another major change for the hospitality technology provider, as it has shifted between public and private spheres several times over the past decade. 

Said Reggie Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Cvent, “As one of the world’s largest private equity firms, Blackstone brings deep expertise in the event and hospitality industry, and with their backing, we plan to continue to invest in our business and deliver the innovative solutions that meet our customers’ needs and power the meetings and events ecosystem.”

Founded in 1999, Cvent was acquired by investment firm Vista Equity Partner in 2016 for $1.65 billion and held privately. Five years later, it merged with Dragoneer and returned to public markets with an enterprise value of $5.3 billion. 

Having rejected a $3.9 billion offer from Blackstone in February of this year, Cvent and the private equity firm have reached a $4.6 billion agreement to bring it under private ownership again. 

Cvent stockholders will secure cash payments of $8.50 per share, representing a 52% premium on the volume-weighted average share price over the 90 days prior to Jan. 30, 2023. Cvent’s majority stockholder, Vista Equity Partners, will direct some of its proceeds into “non-convertible preferred stock in financing for the transaction,” according to a press release.

Approval of the agreement was unanimous from the Cvent board of directors, and final closure is expected mid-year, once Cvent’s stockholders approve the deal and regulations are met. 

The deal also reinforces Blackstone’s desire to expand its footprint in hospitality. At the 2022 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, Tyler Henritze, senior managing director of Blackstone, noted that Blackstone’s footprint in the hospitality space was historically low and stated, “We wish our hotel portfolio was bigger.” 

Cvent has roughly 22,000 customers around the world in the hospitality, corporate, nonprofit and higher education sectors and more than 302,000 hotels and venues on the Cvent Supplier Network.

“Since Vista first invested, Cvent has undertaken considerable business transformation and has been a testament to how we partner with founders like Reggie to help their businesses scale and thrive,” said Monti Saroya, chairman of the Cvent board of directors and co-head of the Vista Flagship Fund. 

“The newly digitized events landscape, coupled with Cvent’s strong existing customer base and commitment to innovation, has provided a new growth vector in a post-COVID world.”