What happened
Shares of Forescout Technologies (FSCT), a cybersecurity company, fell today after the company announced that it had filed a complaint against Advent International, a private equity firm that's in the process of buying Forescout.
Forescout's share price was down 6.2% as of 3:24 p.m. EST.
So what
Forescout said that it filed the legal complaint because Advent had violated the terms of its merger agreement between the two companies. Advent entered a deal back in February to acquire Forescout for $1.9 billion, or $33 a share in cash, which was about an 18% premium from the company's share price at the time.
Forescout said in a press released that it's "asking the Court to compel Advent to honor its commitments and immediately complete the pending acquisition of Forescout." Advent, for its part, has said that it hasn't closed the acquisition because "material adverse effect" has occurred on Forescout's business.
Image source: Getty Images.
Forescout's Chair of the Board, Theresia Gouw, said in a statement,
The only change since the merger agreement was jointly executed in February is the deepening of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly impacted global macro-economic conditions.
Forescout says that it has a "strong financial position" and had $100 million cash on hand at the end of March.
Now what
Investors have been very unhappy about the uncertainty surrounding Forescout's potential acquisition and have pushed the company's stock down 40% over the past month. With Forescout now pursuing legal action against Advent, investors won't be reassured that the merger will happen any time soon, which could spur more share price swings over the near term.
