Current Capital’s Jonathan Foster Retained on behalf of Goldman Sachs as Expert Witness in Tibco Buyout Litigation

Dow Jones (April 21, 2016) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Vista Equity Partners have agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by investors in a software company that went private in a roughly $4 billion buyout two years ago.

The firms will pay between $30 million and $35 million in total to former investors in Tibco Software Inc., whose sale to Vista was marred by a share-count error that lowered the price by $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter. It couldn’t be learned how the amount would be split between Vista and Goldman, which advised Tibco on the deal.

Vista had agreed to pay $24 a share for Tibco, valuing the software company at $4.1 billion. But after the agreement was reached, Tibco told its investors that Vista may have relied on an overstated share count and intended to pay $4.2 billion.

Using a spreadsheet distributed by Goldman bankers, Vista had double-counted some shares given to executives as compensation.

Goldman, which received a $47 million fee for its work on the deal, has blamed Tibco for providing the inaccurate figures. Goldman says it promptly told lawyers for Tibco’s board when it realized Vista had used the wrong share count to set its bid.