
Vista Equity Partners Completes Deal to Buy Avalara for $8.4B
Vista Equity Partners, a global investment firm, has purchased Seattle-based Avalara Inc., a tax compliance automation company, for $93.50 per share in cash.
With the completion of the $8.4 billion transaction, Avalara shares have stopped trading and are no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Avalara has more than 30,000 customers that use its compliance automation software to manage their sales and other types of taxes. Customers include Zillow Group, Pinterest and others.
The deal is the latest example of private equity firms hungry for public company acquisitions at bargain prices.
Vista paid $1.9 billion in 2019 to acquire Bellevue, Wash.-based Apptio, another public enterprise software company. It also bought Citrix earlier this year in a deal with Elliott Investment Management for $16.5 billion.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisor to Avalara, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Perkins Coie LLP acted as legal counsel. BofA Securities served as financial advisor to Vista and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel.