Fund Offers To Buy Out SumTotal For $103M

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners on Monday offered to buy SumTotal Systems Inc., a maker of employee management software, for $103 million.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company had no immediate response to the offer.

Vista, which already owns 13 percent of SumTotal, is offering $3.25 per share in cash, 62 percent more than Friday's closing stock price of $2.01. In Monday morning trading, SumTotal's shares rose 92 cents, or 46 percent, to $2.93.

The offer values the entire company, including Vista's stake, at $103 million.

Pressuring the company, Vista also said it was nominating three directors to SumTotal's board. Shareholders would vote on the candidates at the annual meeting on June 12.

In a letter to SumTotal, the managing principal of Vista Equity Partners, Robert F. Smith, said the company's "ability to realize significant value for its stockholders as a standalone public company during a lengthy and highly precarious business model transition is, candidly, subject to significant risk and uncertainty."

Vista has offices in San Francisco and Chicago. It has more than $2.3 billion in capital under management, focuses on investing in enterprise software businesses.