News

(Reuters) – U.S. information technology services provider ConvergeOne Holdings Inc is exploring a sale after it attracted takeover interest from private equity firms, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The potential deal would come less than a year after ConvergeOne became a publicly listed company by merging with Forum Merger Corp, a blank-check acquisition company, in a $1.2 billion deal. Its shares are almost flat since it started trading in February, making it more vulnerable as an acquisition target.

ConvergeOne, which is controlled by its majority owner, buyout firm Clearlake Capital Group LP, is working with investment bank Raymond James Financial Inc on an auction process, the sources said.

The persons cautioned that no deal is certain and asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Clearlake declined to comment, while ConvergeOne and Raymond James did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

ConvergeOne shares jumped as much as 15 percent on the news and were trading up 6 percent at $9.07 on Thursday morning in New York, giving the company a market capitalization of close to $700 million.

Based in Eagan, Minnesota, ConvergeOne is a distributor of networking and collaboration products from technology companies such as Cisco Systems Inc and IBM Corp.

ConvergeOne has more than 10,000 customers, including 48 percent of the Fortune 500 customers across the healthcare, finance, manufacturing, education and energy industries.