Citrix Systems has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike, a company in the SaaS collaborative work management space, for $2.25 billion in cash.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Citrix and Wrike, is expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, the companies said in a statement. Upon closing, Andrew Filev, founder and chief executive of Wrike will continue to lead the Wrike team, and report to Arlen Shenkman, EVP and chief financial officer, of Citrix.

The combination will bring together Citrix’s digital work platform, and Wrike’s work management solution. Together, Citrix and Wrike will serve over 400,000 customers across 140 countries, says Citrix.

In a statement, David Henshall, president and CEO, Citrix, said, “Together, Citrix and Wrike will deliver the solutions needed to power a cloud-delivered digital workspace experience that enables teams to securely access the resources and tools they need to collaborate and get work done in the most efficient and effective way possible across any channel, device or location.”

Headquartered in San Jose, California, and employing more than 1,000 employees, Wrike, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, has roughly 18,000 customers globally, says Citrix.

J.P. Morgan Securities is serving as financial advisor to Citrix on the transaction and Shearman & Sterling as legal counsel. The financial advisor to Wrike is Goldman Sachs, and legal counsel is Kirkland & Ellis.

You can read Mr. Filev’s blog post announcing the Citrix acquisition here.

[Image courtesy: Wrike]