Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman are locked in a fierce competition to acquire DocuSign Inc, a leading provider of online signature services, with a market value of approximately $12 billion. While both private equity firms are currently bidding independently, there is a possibility that they may join forces in the future to secure the deal. The final outcome is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.
An earlier report had suggested that Blackstone Inc, another major buyout firm, was also considering a potential deal with DocuSign. However, recent developments indicate that Blackstone is no longer in contention.
The potential acquisition of DocuSign is anticipated to be one of the largest leveraged buyouts of 2024. The company, which went public in 2018 with a valuation of $6 billion, offers innovative technology that allows customers to digitally sign documents from any electronic device. Its client roster includes renowned corporations such as T-Mobile, United Airlines, and Thermo Fisher.
While the financing costs associated with leveraged buyouts have increased over the past two years, making big deals more challenging to close, the current financing outlook is gradually improving. This has paved the way for some significant transactions to come to fruition. In November of last year, Blackstone and Permira announced their joint acquisition of European online classifieds company Adevinta ASA for approximately €14 billion ($15.36 billion). Moreover, in July, buyout firm GTCR executed a deal to purchase a majority stake in Worldpay, the merchant services business of Fidelity National Information Services, for a whopping $18.5 billion.
It remains to be seen which party will emerge victorious in the bidding war for DocuSign. Both Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman are major players in the private equity space, and their pursuit of this acquisition illustrates their confidence in the potential growth of the digital signature services market.