Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Management Corp are close to buying the US cloud computing company, Citrix Systems Inc, for USD 13 billion, according to Reuters and WSJ.

Earlier, Elliott and Vista jointly tapped the loan market to fund the bid for Citrix at USD 104 per share. After making Citrix private, Vista plans to merge it with its data analytics software firm,  Tibco.

Citrix’s products help employees access their company network remotely. The company failed to capitalise on the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CEO Robert Calderoni, this was because the company spent too much on its salesforce and too little on its distribution partners.

Meanwhile, Citrix’s stock closed at $105.55 on Friday. The company reported operating income of USD 84.5 million in the third quarter, down from USD 128.3 million a year ago due to higher operational expenses.

The company has struggled to transition to a subscription-based business, the demand for its cloud services soared during the pandemic. Experts suggest software companies like Citrix, with predictable revenues, have become one of the most sought-after targets for private-equity firms.

CEO Robert Calderoni took over on an interim basis from David Henshall, who stepped down last month. He had served as CEO since 2017. Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn joined the Citrix board of directors in 2015 and had stepped down last year.