Avid Technology has officially gone private with the close of its $1.4 billion sale to STG. Photo Credit: James Owen
Back in August, private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) revealed plans to take Avid Technology private in a $1.4 billion deal. Now, the all-cash transaction has officially wrapped.
Avid Technology just recently confirmed the deal’s formal close, with shareholders’ approval having arrived on Thursday, November 2nd. Burlington, Massachusetts-based Avid, the developer of products including Pro Tools, has also ceased trading on the public market, and investors have received $27.05 per share in connection with the sale.
Moving forward, the business behind AvidPlay is expected to keep on operating, albeit “as a privately-held company,” in Massachusetts, the involved parties communicated. Meanwhile, higher-ups at STG, which in March announced the close of an “oversubscribed” $4.2 billion fund, have touched upon their goal of “accelerating Avid’s growth trajectory.”
“We are excited to begin the next phase of Avid’s journey,” STG managing partner William Chisholm and principal Patrick Fouhy said in a joint statement. “Avid’s solutions are integral to content creation and management workflows across the film, television and music markets.
“Building on Avid’s established leadership position, we look forward to accelerating Avid’s growth trajectory through a deep focus on innovation and delivering enhanced customer value,” concluded Chisholm and Fouhy.
And in comments of his own, Avid CEO Jeff Rosica indicated that his company’s privatization will set the stage for continued innovation.
“By becoming a private company, we believe Avid will be able to achieve the speed of innovation, scale and performance required for us to continue leading the industry forward,” the longtime exec Rosica relayed.
“Combined with their significant operational and financial resources, STG brings deep investment experience in the technology sector that will accelerate the achievement of Avid’s strategic vision, building on the momentum of our successful ongoing transformation achieved over the past several years,” he finished.
In other acquisition news, October saw Tidal owner Block – shares in which have spiked by almost 20 percent across the last five trading days – purchase music financial services company Hifi. Additionally, on top of catalog buyouts from the likes of BMG and Reservoir, Peermusic scooped up publisher Arctic Rights Management, whereas Patreon added to its portfolio digital-event platform Moment.
Lastly, Warner Music Group (WMG) in October bought the recorded business of The Fried Music as well as Indian artist-management company E-Positive. The latter marked one of multiple noteworthy 2023 plays in the quick-growing Indian market for Sky Digital India-partnered WMG, which holds a majority stake in Divo.
