Think Investments Opposes TaskUs Take-Private Deal, Urges Higher Valuation

Think Investments LP, a significant TaskUs shareholder, opposes the take-private deal at $16.50 per share, arguing it undervalues the company. Think proposes a fair valuation of $25 per share, a 50% premium over the current offer. The firm highlights TaskUs's growth potential, particularly in AI services, which reported a 65.5% YoY growth in H1'25. Think stresses that the current deal terms fail to account for TaskUs's intrinsic value and potential.

Think Investments LP, a significant shareholder with a 10.7% stake in TaskUs, Inc. (Nasdaq: TASK), has publicly opposed the company's proposed take-private transaction with Blackstone and TaskUs' founders at $16.50 per share. The investor, which holds 3.7 million Class A shares, argues that the proposed price undervalues the company [1].

In a detailed presentation, Think Investments argues that the proposed transaction price substantially undervalues TaskUs. Their analysis of relevant comparable transactions and the company's recent operating outperformance indicates that a fair valuation for TaskUs is $25.00 per share, more than 50% above the proposed buyout price [1]. Additionally, TaskUs has significantly outperformed financial expectations since the announcement of the transaction, further warranting a re-rating [1].

The presentation also highlights the skewed process that led to the proposed transaction. Think Investments believes that the TaskUs Board of Directors' Special Committee failed to undertake a comprehensive process to determine a fair price for the company. The fairness opinion appears to deliberately and exclusively include precedent transactions and public comparables with low valuation multiples [1]. Notably, the most relevant precedent transaction, the acquisition of WNS by Capgemini, was omitted from the company's valuation materials. This transaction implies a fair value for TaskUs of approximately 12x LTM EBITDA, in contrast to the fairness opinion's 6.8x median precedent transaction multiple [1].

Think Investments also contends that the transaction would prevent minority shareholders from realizing TaskUs' significant value creation potential, particularly in AI services. AI Services constitute the fastest scaling portion of the business, with 65.5% YoY growth in H1'25. Coupled with strong momentum coming out of the first half of the year, Think Investments believes the transaction's contemplated price fails to compensate minority shareholders for the company's intrinsic value [1].

The transaction is conditioned on approval by a majority of the unaffiliated vote, and Think Investments' opposition could impact the vote's outcome. The investor plans to vote against the transaction, believing that TaskUs has significant value creation potential, particularly in AI services, and that minority shareholders would be prevented from realizing this upside [1].

References:
[1] https://www.marketscreener.com/news/significant-shareholder-think-investments-issues-presentation-detailing-opposition-to-taskus-take-pr-ce7c50d9dc8df127
[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/significant-shareholder-think-investments-issues-170000773.html
[3] https://www.ainvest.com/news/investments-opposes-taskus-private-transaction-citing-undervaluation-flawed-process-2508/