By Milana Vinn
(Reuters) – Diligent’s private equity owners are weighing strategic options including a sale that could value the corporate governance software maker at nearly $7 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
Buyout firms Insight Partners, Blackstone and Clearlake, which jointly own New York-based Diligent, have started interviewing investment banks as they prepare to launch a sale process for the company early next year, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity is requested because the matter is confidential. .
Deliberations are at an early stage and a deal is not guaranteed, the sources said, adding that potential buyers also include other private equity firms and data providers such as LSEG and S&P Global.
Diligent, Blackstone, Insight Partners, Clearlake and LSEG declined to comment. S&P Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Private equity firms are looking to withdraw from long-term investments after a deal drought over the past two years due to high interest rates that have made financing leveraged buyouts more expensive.
As the U.S. Federal Reserve begins cutting interest rates, buyout companies that recently raised tens of billions of dollars are preparing to invest that money, while also pulling back investments they previously couldn’t divest.
Diligent makes secure communication and collaboration software for company executives, top management teams and board committees. The company has more than 700,000 board members and top-level business leaders as customers.
Insight Partners, the largest investor in Diligent, took the company private from the New Zealand stock exchange in 2016 for $624 million. Clearlake came in as a minority investor in the company in 2018, followed by Blackstone two years later.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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