Event technology provider Cvent has announced that it will transition into a publicly traded company after a merger with special purpose acquisition company Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II. Upon closing, the combined company will operate as Cvent Holding Corp., and is expected to trade under the ticker symbol “CVT.”
The transaction values Cvent at an initial enterprise value of $5.3 billion. It will provide Cvent with $801 million in cash which will enable the company to accelerate product innovation, increase research and development, reduce debt, and expand go-to market activities to capitalize on its leading position in the $30 billion market for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Cvent’s growing global customer base, proven track record of success over more than two decades, and established platform position the company for substantial expansion.
Cvent CEO and Founder Reggie Aggarwal said in a written statement, “The meetings and events industry has experienced rapid digital transformation over the last 18 months, with the pandemic creating a new paradigm for the events industry. Events became digitized through virtual and online experiences, and we invested heavily in expanding our virtual event capabilities. Now, we are engaging in a hybrid world, as in-person events resume, and virtual events remain prominent. With the increased digitization of our industry, events are 'always on' and have fewer boundaries. My management team and our nearly 4,000 employees around the world are excited for the opportunity to continue to innovate and enable our customers to leverage Cvent across their Total Event Program.”
Dragoneer Founder and Managing Partner Marc Stad said, “We are excited to lock arms with Cvent and help position the business for its next phase of growth as a publicly listed company. In H2’20, Cvent launched its virtual events solution, and ever since, this virtual product line has been growing rapidly and has been well-received by customers. As the world reopens, we expect to move into a hybrid world that combines elements of in-person and virtual events. With the optionality, flexibility and reach that Cvent can provide, we expect organizations to increasingly turn to Cvent to expand their audiences and create new, user-friendly ways for both virtual and in-person participants to interact with their events. Moreover, Cvent’s hospitality cloud business is a differentiator that benefits from powerful network effects – a key tenet that we look for in many of our investments at Dragoneer. Cvent is led by an exceptional management team with years of industry experience and a strong track record of profitable growth. We believe the $801M of capital expected to be raised from this transaction will enable management to double down on product development and further cement Cvent’s position as a leader in this software category.”
A group of leading investors has committed to participate in the transaction through a common stock private investment in public equity (“PIPE”) of $475 million at $10.00 per share. The PIPE includes participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Hedosophia, Oaktree Capital Management L.P. and Zoom Video Communications, Inc., among others.
Zoom CFO, Kelly Steckelberg, said, "Cvent and Zoom share a common mission to bring people together through technology. We believe that Cvent's event technology is complementary to what we offer as a video communications leader, and our organizations already have a long track record of working together as technology partners and as users of each other's solutions. We are proud to be an investor in Cvent as it accelerates its mission of delivering engaging experiences for virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. We look forward to deepening our partnership with Cvent in the future."
The boards of directors of both Cvent and Dragoneer have unanimously approved the proposed business combination, which is expected to be completed in the Fourth Quarter of 2021, subject to, among other things, the approval by Dragoneer's shareholders and certain other customary closing conditions stated in the Merger Agreement.
Additional information about the proposed business combination, including a copy of the Merger Agreement and an investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Dragoneer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and will be available at https://www.dragoneergrowth.com/dgns/ and at www.sec.gov.
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