Traders sound the alarm about potential personal fairness tech offers • TechCrunch

Enterprise spend administration software program firm Coupa’s traders are ringing the alarm a couple of potential sale to non-public fairness, involved that any such transaction within the present funding setting could unreasonably restrict its worth.

That is one thing you don’t see day-after-day. Final week, rumors surfaced that Vista Fairness Companions was considering shopping for Coupa. At the moment, Coupa’s largest shareholder, HMI Capital, with 4.8% of the inventory, made a letter to the Coupa board public, stating that it will oppose any deal that it believed undervalued the corporate.

It pegged its worth at a minimal of $95 per share. Coupa’s share value hovered round $63 this afternoon, down almost 3%. Like many SaaS shares, Coupa’s worth has dropped precipitously in 2022, down 60% for the 12 months.

HMI is fearful that Coupa’s present worth doesn’t replicate what it believes will likely be a profitable future as soon as it will get past right now’s troubled valuation marketplace for software program firms.

Not like the poison-pen letters we’re used to seeing from activist traders, this one was filled with nothing however reward for the corporate (most likely as a result of its targets had been very totally different):

As we have now conveyed to the Board and administration staff, we invested in Coupa primarily based on our perception that it is a wonderful enterprise. Its administration staff – most notably Chief Government Officer Rob Bernshteyn – has carried out an distinctive job constructing the Firm from a startup to a transparent market chief, whereas establishing enterprise spend administration as its personal important class. Maybe most significantly, Coupa’s outlook for future progress and long-term worth creation is vibrant. As Mr. Bernshteyn himself acknowledged only some months in the past:

“Now near-term situation apart, we’re proudly the clear chief in enterprise spend administration. Our complete addressable market is very large and under-penetrated and we’re excited as ever in our pursuit to revolutionize this market and ship buyer success like by no means seen earlier than.”

It’s our view that we communicate for a lot of different shareholders after we say that we might be happy to personal Coupa for the foreseeable future and to guess on the staff to proceed to construct momentum and execute its confirmed technique.

It’s virtually odd to see an exterior investor praising an organization’s management, as most public investor remark is detrimental. Right here we don’t see an investor begging administration to chop prices or change route. As an alternative, it’s reward and a perception in larger worth but to come back.

The sunny view of Coupa’s future conflicts with current public market sentiment in regards to the future worth of tech firms. That prevailing viewpoint, crossed with large quantities of personal fairness dry powder, could have put PE traders in a deal-making temper.

HMI is begging the Coupa crew to stay it out, or at the least demand greater than they in any other case may accept. In fact, that is HMI speaking its personal e book, however there could also be some substance to its argument. Let’s verify the mathematics — and a comp.