Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with today’s Wire.
Big news in the Twitterverse. Elon Musk wants to take Twitter private to the tune of $43 billion.
“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” wrote Musk in a Thursday filing with the SEC. The bid comes after the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX became the social media company’s largest shareholder with a 9.2 percent stake on March 14. It also comes after Musk agreed to join Twitter’s board, posted several (now deleted) tweets criticizing the company and then decided not to join the board after all.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a letter to the board attached to the filing. He said Twitter will “neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.”
“I am offering to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 percent premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38 percent premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he wrote. “My offer is my best and final offer, and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
Twitter’s board responded with a statement earlier this morning saying it “will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.”
Stay tuned.
Energy exit. AE Industrial Partners announced this morning the sale of its portfolio company BHI Energy to Westinghouse Electric for undisclosed terms.
AEI bought BHI, which provides services to the power generation and electricity transmission and distribution end markets, in 2017. Since then, the company has grown organically and through five add-on acquisitions: DBE Utility Services, Coastal Electrical Construction, TechCom International, Plaska Transmission Line Construction and D&D Power.
“BHI has cemented its reputation as a market-leading service provider in the utility sector focused on carbon-neutral technologies, and we know the company will continue to perform at the highest level going forward,” said AEI managing partner Michael Greene in a statement.
Event recap. Flex space operator Convene, has completed its recapitalization plan, led by HBC and Ares Management.
“We built Convene with a mission of elevating the workday experience,” said Ryan Simonetti, co-founder and CEO of the hybrid meeting, event, and workspace provider. The investment by HBC and Ares provides “instant scale and growth opportunities” for Convene, he said. “As organizations continue to embrace hybrid work and are demanding higher quality environments in which to gather, we are well-positioned to seize this moment.”
IR event. Speaking of Convene, the company’s midtown Manhattan venue is where PEI Media, the owner of PE Hub, will host our Investor Relations, Marketing & Communications Forum next week.
On the 19th, I’ll be moderating a panel about how the past two years have redefined the IR role. Panelists will include: Shavonne Correia, head of investor relations and marketing, KPS Capital Partners; Jennifer James, managing director, chief operating officer and head of investor relations and marketing, Thoma Bravo; Gina Lee Peyton, partner, capital formation, Castlelake; and Nathan Urquhart, partner and global head of investor relations, Carlyle.
Hope to see you there!
That’s all for today. I’m off tomorrow, so Chris will write tomorrow’s Wire.
Wishing everyone a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter,
MK
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try and sign in again. If the problem persists, please
email: subscriptions@peimedia.com.