Data integration company Talend SA announced today it has agreed to be acquired by tech-focused private equity firm Thoma Bravo LP for $66 per share.

The cash transaction values the company at $2.4 billion, or about 29% more than Talend’s Tuesday closing price and 81% above the volume weighted average price over the last 12 months. Talend’s board unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding, the companies said.

The deal will make Talend a private company nearly five years after it became one of the first tech companies to go public following a long mid-decade lull in the market.

The transaction “will deliver compelling and certain cash value to Talend shareholders and significant strategic, long-term benefits for our customers, employees and other stakeholders,” Talend Chairman Steve Singh said in a statement.

Singh credited a “successful advancement of our transformation effort led by our CEO over the past year” for preparing the company for sale. Chief Executive Christal Bemont took the reins from Mike Tuchen a little over a year ago. Talend shares were up more than 150% from their April 2020 low before the deal was announced.

In a statement, Bemont praised the way Talend’s workforce “has executed through the challenges of 2020 and successfully delivered on the strategic initiatives and targets we laid out a year ago.” She said Thoma Bravo, whose portfolio includes more than 80 mostly technology firms, including many security firms, and which manages $77 billion in assets, has “a successful track record of helping the companies it acquires achieve long-term, sustainable growth.” The companies did not comment on whether Bemont will continue to lead the firm as a Thoma Bravo subsidiary.

Under the terms of the binding memorandum of understanding, Thoma Bravo will initiate a cash tender offer of $66 per Talend ordinary and American depositary share, subject to unspecified conditions. The deal gives Talend’s board a 30-day “go-shop” period to solicit alternative acquisition proposals.

Thoma Bravo has risen rapidly through the ranks of private equity firms since its 2008 founding. In 2016 it was reportedly in line to purchase Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s software business, although that deal ultimately went to Micro Focus International plc. Last month it announced plans to purchase British cybersecurity provider Sophos Group plc in a deal valued at $3.9 billion.

Image: Talend