Blackbaud spurns Clearlake's sweetened $4.3 bln takeover offer

May 16 (Reuters) - Blackbaud rejected a sweetened $4.3 billion takeover offer from Clearlake Capital Group, saying it significantly undervalued the cloud software provider.

This is the second time that Blackbaud has spurned the overtures of its largest shareholder, which has been swooping down on software companies as it bets on demand for cloud-related services.

The private equity firm made its latest offer last month, valuing each share of Blackbaud at $80, compared with the $71 per share offered in March last year.

Blackbaud said in a letter to Clearlake's board on Wednesday that the firm's "indication of interest significantly undervalues the company and is not in the best interests of all Blackbaud stockholders."

In March, Blackbaud's board terminated its shareholder rights plan that was adopted in October 2022 to prevent any entity from acquiring a stake of more than 20%.

Blackbaud shares have gained 23% since Clearlake announced its initial interest in the company in March last year. The PE firm owns an 18.89% stake in Blackbaud according to LSEG data.

Clearlake, along with Francisco Partners, recently agreed to buy the software integrity (SIG) unit of chip designer Synopsys .

It has bought several other companies such as Cornerstone OnDemand and Quest Software.

Clearlake did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Blackbaud's rejection.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese; Editing by Anil D'Silva)