Being Acquired | Hacker News Reader

Being Acquired

csisoftware.com

50 pointsmxschumacher18 comments

These guys reach out to basically every SaaS company in Canada. They have a reputation of driving a lot of shareholder value (massive stock price increase over time) but also of getting there by avoiding paying top of market rates.

Not sure of the validity of that, but such is the scuttlebutt on the Canadian tech street.

By definition not everyone can pay top of market. So I am not sure it’s such a bad thing.

Interesting look at what drives an acquisition by a vertically focused conglomerate. Interesting, doesn't look like a PE play.

This is 100% a PE play. PE is basically just "more than 50% ownership" from an investment perspective. CSI is a notoriously "roll-up" shop and there are tons more in the US that basically do the same.

Is Berkshire Hathaway PE? Seems like it would be by that definition, but I've never heard them called that.

I always thought PE was leveraged buyouts/KKR/Masters of the Universe type of folks.

There's some nuance there for sure. Berkshire is a heavily diversified conglomerate, which includes acquiring companies plus minority investments in publicly traded equities. CSI is simply an acquisition roll-up shop.

> I always thought PE was leveraged buyouts/KKR/Masters of the Universe type of folks.

I'd have to double check for sure, but I'm 90% sure that CSI levered their deals. So by that definition (MBO acquisitions + leverage) I'd put them in the PE category. Could argue maybe family office (which utilizes many PE techniques).

This is a great example of the company that doesn't do TechCrunch PR and is a hidden gem for shareholder value. Have been investing in their shares for a few years now and its a great example of "not the loudest ones win".

Boring businesses sometimes are a better deal...

This is a well known company though, not a hidden gem. Plus their P/E is >250.

Not a lot of people are aware of it in a "general sense"

Sounds like the Warren Buffet approach applied to tech companies.

they own companies that own companies? They own harris - clicking through harris - harris owns many many many many software companies -

Yes.

The company I work for bought by CSI not long after I was hired.

There are at least 4 companies (that I know of - probably more! - between us and CSI.

crazy i've never heard of this company - yet they're doing over 3 billion in revenue - seems like a great business this Mark Leonard dude has built -

He has a pretty unique beard

https://colinkeeley.com/blog/mark-leonard-constellation-soft...

Also found this…"he worked as a banker, valuator, mason, gravedigger, dog handler, bouncer, sapper, and wind energy researcher.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magaz...

Mark Lenard has quite diverse experience. Perhaps the business success reflects the combination of his Vulcan rationality and his Romulan go-for-the-jugular instincts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lenard

> An outstanding manager

> Consistent profitability

> Above average growth

When I saw these, totally sans punctuation, I read them as some kind of e.e. cummings poem assembled from randomly sampled capitalist mumbo jumbo

And the page suggests that in that case they’d buy from someone who wanted to retire…wouldn’t the retiree be the outstanding manager?

I read it as they want to see that the owner has put good management in place before selling.

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