Blackbaud board chairman Andrew Leitch said Clearlake appears to want to start a bidding war for the company. "Clearlake's unambiguous statement that the firm itself does not need to be an acquirer is an overt attempt to put the Company in play opportunistically, Leitch wrote in a press release. In its statement,  the nonprofit software company also declared, “the Board unanimously determined that the proposal is highly opportunistic and significantly undervalues Blackbaud.” Blackbaud’s largest stockholder, Clearlake owns 18 percent of the company’s shares. With 53,215,892 shares outstanding on December 31, the deal values the company at roughly $3.76 billion and would put the cost to Clearlake for the shares it doesn’t own around $3.1 billion. News reports said the stock was trading at its highest value since early 2022. Blackbaud’s board said the bid ignored the company’s “tangible momentum” in its business.