Riverbed seals the deal on multi-billion pound takeover

Tech giant snapped up by private equity firm

Riverbed Technology has announced it is being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo and Teachers' Private Capital nine months after a heated attack from activist investor Elliott Management.

The acquisition values Riverbed at $3.6bn (£2.3bn).

Jerry Kennelly, chairman of Riverbed, described the transaction as a "winning proposition" for all of the San Francisco firm's stakeholders.

"Having undertaken a thorough strategic review, during which we assessed a wide variety of options to maximise value, the board unanimously concluded that partnering with Thoma Bravo was the best choice for Riverbed, as this transaction will provide our stockholders with significant and immediate cash value," he said.

"Further, Thoma Bravo is a highly regarded private equity firm with deep experience in the technology industry and a 30-year track record of helping companies like ours flourish. With the benefit of Thoma Bravo's knowledge and insights, combined with the added flexibility we will have as a private company, Riverbed will be able to focus on reaching the next level of growth, which will benefit our employees, customers and partners."

Kennelly will remain chairman and CEO of Riverbed. The deal is expected to complete in Q1 2015, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

The deal comes after Elliott Management made two bids for the company, one for $19 a share in January and another for $21 a share in February. Both of these were rejected by Riverbed.

At the time of the original bid, Elliott Mangement wrote to Riverbed management saying that it had ignored Elliott's comments about how to facilitate an increase in share price. The investor also expressed concerns about Riverbed's apparent lack of desire to "explore the significant acquisition interest of numerous potential bidders, including us".

When the second bid was rejected, Jesse Cohn, portfolio manager at Elliott, launched a scathing attack on Riverbed after its CEO Kennelly was interviewed on Bloomberg TV saying that no "serious" party had made a "credible" bid for the vendor.

"It is bad enough that this board has overseen a history of poor execution, an overpriced acquisition and severe stock price underperformance relative to all relevant benchmarks and peer averages over any period of time," Cohn said in a public statement at the time.

"Now, this same board is allowing management to make highly misleading statements in the face of a very real opportunity to maximise value for shareholders through a transaction."