Supply chain software provider e2open is being bought by an Australian technology company, the culmination of a strategic review of its operations that began with a push from an activist investor.
E2open said late Sunday it is being acquired by WiseTech Global Ltd., which e2open described as a “leading provider of logistics execution software solutions.”
The price of the transaction was $3.30 per share. That is a roughly 28.4% premium over the closing price of e2open Friday, when it closed at $2.57 per share. The value of the deal was put at $2.1 billion.
The transaction will mean the end of e2open as a publicly-traded company, a history that dates back only to October 2020 when it went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
In a prepared statement, e2Open CEO Andrew Appel said the deal “maximizes value for our shareholders and positions the Company for long-term success.”
“WiseTech’s global footprint and commitment to innovation are highly complementary to e2open’s capabilities,” he said. “Together, we will be able to offer a leading end-to-end platform for the world’s most complex supply chains.”
The ride of e2open as a publicly-trade company was not a positive one for early investors. According to data on Yahoo! Finance, e2open stock traded as high as roughly $14.50 per share in June 2021. It hit a low of $1.75 on April 4.
E2open’s struggles ultimately cost CEO Michael Farlekas his job, as he was pushed out in October 2023. It was after Appel was hired as CEO after serving as interim CEO that the company’s strategic review was launched.
It came after activist investor Elliott Investment Management had taken a stake of more than 13% in the company. Since the strategic review was launched, company executives have repeatedly declined to say anything about its progress on the company’s quarterly earnings calls, as recently as the fourth quarter call that took place April 29.
Financial data at e2open (NYSE: ETWO) has been disastrous in recent years. It recorded a $652 million operating loss in the fiscal year ended February 28, which was an improvement over the roughly $1.5 billion loss the prior fiscal year.
Subscription revenue, the lifeblood of a software provider, dropped to $528 million from $537 million year-over-year.
On the latest earnings call, Appel touted several areas of improvement, including sequential increases in subscription revenue and that in the fourth quarter, e2Open had the highest renewal percentage of any quarter in the fiscal year.
But to show its challenges, e2Open’s forecast for the first quarter–which will end this week–was for subscription revenue to range from a low of a 1.8% decline to a 0.5% increase year-over-year.
Media reports said the E2open is the largest acquisition in the history of WiseTech, which is headed by Australian billionaire Richard White. Its primary product for the logistics market is called CargoWise.
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