LogMeIn suitor Francisco lining up financing, sources say

12 December 2019 - 12:00 am UTC

Financing commitments to support Francisco Partners’ buyout of LogMeIn [NASDAQ:LOGM] are due at the end of this week, said two sources familiar with the situation.

 

If a deal is struck for the owner of digital conference call provider GoToMeeting, the deal valuation is expected to be north of USD 4.5bn, the same sources and two additional sources familiar said.

 

LogMeIn currently has around a USD 4bn market cap based on a USD 80.36 per share price and 49.4m diluted shares outstanding at the end of September.

 

In September, this news service was the first to report that LogMeIn came close to signing a deal to sell itself to Francisco Partners this past spring. The bilateral talks, however, stalled primarily on valuation and other issues. With LogMeIn’s stock, however, steadily declining, there could be an opportunity for talks to re-ignite again with interested suitors, the same report said.

 

Francisco Partners has had LogMeIn on its radar screen since 2018 summer when the company tried to find suitors for itself through its advisor JPMorgan, as reported. The company failed to find a buyer given its value expectations and limited interest from suitors in paying a material premium to where the company’s stock was trading at the time.

 

Shares of LogMeIn have been gaining since early November, jumping from USD 65 to over USD 80 in morning trading on Thursday. The stock had been above USD 100 in July 2018 before plunging more than 20% after the company provided a 2018 outlook. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Francisco and Elliott Management were nearing a deal to acquire LogMeIn.

 

LogMeIn, Elliott  and Francisco Partners did not respond to request for comment. JPMorgan declined comment.

 

by Bhavna Kaul, Amy-Jo Crowley and Jonathan Guilford