Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc. (“Endurance” or the
“Company”) (Nasdaq:EIGI), a leading provider of cloud-based
platform solutions designed to help small and medium-sized
businesses succeed online, announced today that it has entered into
a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by affiliates of
Clearlake Capital Group L.P. (“Clearlake”) in an all cash
transaction valued at approximately $3.0 billion including
outstanding indebtedness.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, which has been
unanimously approved by the members of the Endurance Board of
Directors, affiliates of Clearlake will acquire all of the
outstanding common shares of Endurance for $9.50 per share in cash.
The purchase price represents a 79% premium over Endurance’s
unaffected share price of $5.30 as of September 25, 2020, the last
trading day prior to media speculation about a potential
transaction, and a 64% premium to its closing share price on
October 30, 2020 of $5.81.
A special meeting of Endurance shareholders will be held
promptly following the filing of a definitive proxy statement with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Certain
affiliates of Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs Private Equity
Partners have entered into a voting agreement committing them to,
among other things, vote approximately 36% of the outstanding
shares of Endurance common stock in favor of adopting the
acquisition agreement.
“We are pleased with this agreement which recognizes the value
of our multi-brand scale platform. We are proud to serve
approximately 5 million customers worldwide as a provider of
solutions that help small and medium businesses succeed online and
enhance the value of their customer relationships,” said Jeff Fox,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Endurance.
“The Endurance family of brands has built a leading position in
the large and growing cloud hosting, domain, and digital marketing
software space. We look forward to partnering with this talented
team and supporting its long-term strategic plan to drive growth
through its focus on customer value. We are excited to leverage
Clearlake’s O.P.S.® framework to help the Company fuel growth both
organically and through acquisitions,” said Behdad Eghbali,
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and James Pade, Partner at
Clearlake.
The proposed transaction is expected to close in the first
quarter of 2021 and is subject to approval by Endurance
shareholders, along with the satisfaction of customary closing
conditions (including antitrust regulatory clearance). Clearlake
will finance the transaction with a combination of committed equity
financing from the Clearlake funds and has secured committed debt
financing for the proposed transaction, which is not subject to any
financing condition. Upon completion of the acquisition, Endurance
will become a wholly owned affiliate of Clearlake.
For further information regarding the terms and conditions
contained in the definitive merger agreement, please see
Endurance’s Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed in
connection with this transaction.
Given today’s announcement, Endurance is releasing its third
quarter 2020 financial results concurrent with this announcement.
The Company does not intend to hold a conference call on Thursday,
November 5, 2020 to discuss earnings as previously announced.
Centerview Partners and Goldman Sachs are acting as co-financial
advisors and WilmerHale as corporate counsel to Endurance.
J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities, and UBS
Investment Bank provided committed debt financing, and alongside
Rothschild & Co and Lazard acted as financial advisors to
Clearlake. Sidley Austin LLP is serving as corporate/M&A
counsel and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as financing counsel to
Clearlake.
About Endurance International GroupEndurance
International Group Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGI) helps millions of
small businesses worldwide with products and technology to enhance
their online web presence, email marketing, business solutions, and
more. The Endurance family of brands includes: Constant Contact,
Bluehost, HostGator, and Domain.com, among others. Headquartered in
Burlington, Massachusetts, Endurance employs over 3,800 people
across the United States, Brazil, India and the Netherlands. For
more information, visit: www.endurance.com.
Endurance International Group and the compass logo are
trademarks of The Endurance International Group, Inc. Constant
Contact, the Constant Contact logo and other brand names of
Endurance International Group are trademarks of The Endurance
International Group, Inc. or its subsidiaries.
About Clearlake Capital GroupClearlake Capital
Group, L.P. is a leading investment firm founded in 2006 operating
integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other
related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks
to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient,
long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from
Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s
core target sectors are technology, industrials and consumer.
Clearlake currently has approximately $25 billion of assets under
management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led
over 200 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and
Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on
Twitter @ClearlakeCap.
Forward Looking StatementsThis press release
contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is
cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements, such as
statements regarding the proposed transaction between Clearlake and
Endurance, the expected timetable for completing the transaction,
future financial and operating results, benefits and synergies of
the transaction, future opportunities for the combined company and
any other statements about Clearlake and Endurance managements’
future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects. These
statements are based on current expectations of future events, and
these include statements using the words such as “will,”
“believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” estimates and
similar expressions. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or
known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results
could vary materially from the expectations of Endurance. Risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that the
transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all,
which may adversely affect Endurance’s business and the price of
its common stock; the failure to satisfy the conditions to the
consummation of the transaction, including the adoption of the
merger agreement by the stockholders of Endurance, and the receipt
of certain governmental and regulatory approvals; the failure of
the purchaser to obtain the necessary financing pursuant to the
arrangements set forth in the debt commitment letters delivered
pursuant to the merger agreement or otherwise; the occurrence of
any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the
termination of the merger agreement; the effect of the announcement
or pendency of the transaction on Endurance’s business
relationships, operating results, and business generally; risks
that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations
of Endurance and potential difficulties in Endurance employee
retention as a result of the transaction; risks related to
diverting management’s attention from Endurance’s ongoing business
operations, and the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be
instituted against Endurance or the purchaser related to the merger
agreement or the transaction. The foregoing list of factors is not
exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and
the other risks and uncertainties that affect the businesses of
Endurance described in the “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2019 and in our
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31,
2020 and June 30, 2020, and other reports we file with the SEC. We
assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this document as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. These filings identify and address other
important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events
and results to differ materially from those contemplated in the
forward-looking statements. Copies of these filings are available
online at www.sec.gov and https://ir.endurance.com. Endurance
assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise. Endurance does not give any assurance
that it will achieve its expectations.
Important Information for InvestorsIn
connection with the proposed transaction, Endurance intends to file
with the SEC a proxy statement (the “proxy statement”) and mail the
proxy statement to its stockholders. The Proxy Statement will
contain important information about Clearlake, Endurance, the
transaction and related matters. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF
ENDURANCE ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT BECOMES
AVAILABLE, AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS, AND ANY RELATED AMENDMENTS
OR SUPPLEMENTS, FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY BECAUSE THEY WILL
CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ENDURANCE INTERNATIONAL GROUP,
THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS. Investors and
security holders may obtain free copies of the proxy statement and
other documents (when available) that Endurance files with the SEC
through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of
the documents filed with the SEC by Endurance International Group
will be available free of charge on Endurance’s investor relations
website at www.ir.endurance.com or by contacting Endurance’s
Investor Relations Department at ir@endurance.com.
Participants in the SolicitationEndurance and
certain of its directors, executive officers and employees may be
considered participants in the solicitation of proxies in
connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the
persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants
in the solicitation of the shareholders of Endurance in connection
with the transaction, including a description of their respective
direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise,
will be included in the Proxy Statement described above when it is
filed with the SEC. Additional information regarding Endurance’s
directors and executive officers is also included in Endurance’s
proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which
was filed with the SEC on April 9, 2020. As of September 30, 2020,
Endurance’s directors and executive officers beneficially owned
approximately 76,136,334 shares, or 52.8%, of Endurance’s common
stock. These documents are available free of charge as described
above.
No Offer or SolicitationThis communication is
neither an offer to buy, nor a solicitation of an offer to sell,
subscribe for or buy any securities or the solicitation of any vote
or approval in any jurisdiction pursuant to or in connection with
the proposed transaction or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale,
issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in
contravention of applicable law.
Clearlake Media Contact:Jennifer HursonLambert
& Co.(845) 507-0571jhurson@lambert.com
Endurance Investor Contact:Angela
WhiteEndurance International Group(781)
852-3450ir@endurance.com
Endurance Press Contact:Kristen
AndrewsEndurance International Group(781)
418-6716press@endurance.com
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