DocuSign CEO expresses desire to remain public after PE acquisition rumors | Wilnesh News

Contract management platform file signature CEO Allan Thygesen told CNBC that the company is committed to remaining a public company and is working on it following reports that the company has become a target of interest from private equity suitors. Convince investors of its artificial intelligence potential.

“We are committed to building a great independent public company,” Thygeson told CNBC earlier this week at a partners event in London. “I’m very excited to be joining DocuSign as a public company now. It’s a heart-warming moment, so that’s our plan.”

DocuSign, which provides a popular service that allows users to sign contracts digitally, is rumored to be under investment by Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, Reuters and Bloomberg reported earlier this year, citing people familiar with the matter. ) are interested in DocuSign.

Reuters and Bloomberg both report private equity firms are vying for Acquires DocuSign for nearly $13 billion. Bain Capital and Hellman & Freshman paused their acquisition of DocuSign because of disagreements over the amount they should pay to buy the company, Reuters reported in February.

CNBC could not independently verify the reports.

When CNBC asked Thygeson if he could confirm rumors of previous interest in DocuSign from PE buyers, Thygeson said he “cannot comment on anything that may or may not have happened in the past.”

Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman were unavailable for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Thygesen added that DocuSign would not rule out future M&A deals, telling CNBC: “If anything happens in the future, of course, you can never close the door on any deal.”

However, he stressed: “We are very focused on building a great independent company. We feel we have a huge opportunity, so that’s what we’re doing.”

In February of this year, DocuSign announced a business restructuring plan, which included the decision to lay off 6% of its global employees, with the majority of the layoffs affecting sales and marketing functions.

The company said it expects the restructuring plan to result in losses of $28 million to $32 million, primarily including cash charges for employee transitions, notice periods and severance pay, as well as non-cash charges related to the vesting of stock awards.

At the time, DocuSign said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was taking these restructuring steps to “fulfill its multi-year growth aspirations as an independent public company.”

DocuSign has been trying to convince investors of the future of business driven by artificial intelligence, releasing several major products and acquisitions powered by the technology this year Lexion, a contract management product based on artificial intelligence, was acquired for $165 million in cash.

Additionally, Thygeson undertook a complete rebranding of the company, changing the logo and updating the company’s branding.

He also announced a new DocuSign product focus called “Intelligent Agreement Management,” or IAM. IAM is a more automated version of DocuSign’s Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) process, covering the entire contract process from pre-signing activities to post-signing management.

“I think we’ve convinced investors that there are adults in charge, they’re ahead of the curve, we’ve stabilized the situation, and now they want to see how we handle these new things,” Thygeson said.

He added: “So we will continue to do that and if we do that we will have very exciting opportunities for our shareholders, our customers, our employees and everyone.”

Thygeson said he expects artificial intelligence to have a “very profound” impact “across industries, functions, and scales.”

“I’m honored to be a part of a company that I think is particularly well-positioned to capitalize on this,” Thygeson said. But, he added, “Even if I don’t, I’m going to look for the impact that will have on the business.” No matter what business I run.”