Tibco Software to sell itself to private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $3.98 billion

Tibco Software Inc. says it is selling itself to a private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for about $3.98 billion.

The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, will take the software company private.

Vista Equity is paying $24 for each share of the software company, a 23 percent premium of Tibco's closing price of $19.51 on Friday. When debt is included, the two companies value the deal at $4.3 billion.

Tibco, based in Palo Alto, California, makes software for companies to use on site or through cloud computing.

Vista Equity, which owns several software companies, has offices in Austin, Texas, Chicago and San Francisco.