AVLR - Glass Lewis recommends AVLR shareholders vote against $8.4B sale to Vista Equity

• Altair US, one of Avalara's ( NYSE: AVLR ) largest shareholders, said Wednesday proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended that AVLR shareholders vote against its $8.4B sale to Vista Equity .
• Glass Lewis called the purchase price "inadequate" when factoring in AVLR's historical valuation and the prices paid for other software firms in earlier deals.
• "... we have concerns about the questionable deal timing, the sometimes inexplicable course of discussions, and the board's pessimistic reasoning for the merger and conflicts of interest in the decision-making process," it added.
• On the other hand, proxy adviser ISS issued "cautionary" support for the deal, but raised concerns over shift in narrative from AVLR's management.
• "It is understandable that shareholders who are optimistic about AVLR's long-term potential may question the urgency to sell now," it added.
• Another AVLR investor Merrion Investment Management said it would vote against the sale . Altair, a pre-IPO angel investor in AVLR, is of the view that AVLR would be better off as a standalone .

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