Managed services News
Kaseya-Datto: SEC Filing Reveals Private Equity Interest Behind The Scenes
Joseph F. Kovar
While Kaseya’s private equity owner was the first to reach out to Datto to talk about an acquisition, the timeline released by Datto via an SEC filing shows that several private equity companies were pursuing the company as well.
Behind The Scenes: Kaseya’s Planned Acquisition Of Datto
Kaseya in April unveiled a plan to acquire rival Datto In a deal valued at $6.2 billion. The two companies are both MSP platform developers and providers of a variety of technology aimed at helping MSPs run their business and bring services to their customers. However, the genesis of the planned acquisition started back in November 2021 when representatives of Miami-based Kaseya’s majority shareholder, private equity firm Insight Partners, reached out to Norwalk, Conn.-based Datto to talk.
Between that initial late November meeting and the official unveiling of the planned acquisition, a lot happened behind the scenes, including interest from at least six other private equity firms exploring an acquisition of Datto, the leaking of the news discussions related to “strategic options” for Datto, and a wide range of offers for the company.
While Kaseya is a privately held company, Datto is publicly listed with the stock ticker “MSP” to reflect its customer base. As such, Datto, in its dealing with suitors including rival Kaseya, had to carefully consider how to carry on discussions in private while ensuring it did not break any Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. As part of that, the company May 25 released an SEC Form 14C filing that not only contained details of the merger agreement between the two but also a timeline outlining the developments that took place between Datto, Kaseya, other suitors, and a host of lawyers and financial people.
Following are the key points included in the SEC document, which CRN has reviewed.
