Constellation completes spinoff

Article Excerpt

CONSTELLATION SOFTWARE INC. $1,722 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol CSU; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 21.2 million; Market cap: $36.5 billion; Dividend yield 0.3%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.csisoftware.com) sells software tailored to individual businesses and agencies. It has more than 125,000 customers operating in both the public and private sectors of 100-plus countries. In May 2020, Constellation bought Topicus.com B.V.—a Netherlands-based provider of education, finance and health-care software. Constellation then merged it with its Europe-based Total Specific Solutions. On January 5, 2021, Constellation spun off that combined business as TOPICUS.COM INC. $70 (Toronto Venture symbol TOI; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 39.4 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; No dividend paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.topicus.com). Constellation investors received 1.86 subordinate voting shares of Topicus for each CSU common share they held as a special dividend. Constellation still maintains a 30.35% voting stake. The outlook for both firms is positive. However, Constellation’s growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk. It’s likely Topicus will also follow that strategy. Both Constellation Software and Topicus are okay…