By Lauren Ratcliffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published March 22, 2012

Blackbaud Inc. extended the expiration of its cash tender offer for outstanding shares of Convio Inc. until April 4. Blackbaud has now extended the offer three times.

Previous coverage: Blackbaud extends expiration of tender offer for Convio Blackbaud withdraws premerger agreement, plans to re-file Blackbaud to acquire Convio for $275M

The extension of the offer gives the Department of Justice additional time to review Blackbaud’s proposed acquisition without filing formal review documents. The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR, governs premerger notifications and provides information to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice before large mergers and acquisitions occur.

“While we will not meet our initial estimate for closing the acquisition by the end of this quarter, we are seeing progress in the DOJ’s review process,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s CEO. “We remain committed to re-filing our HSR notification and report as soon as appropriate.”

Terms of the original merger agreement allow Blackbaud to extend the cash tender offer in 10-day increments.

“The ability to extend our offer, that is included in the merger agreement, provides us needed flexibility during the HSR review process,” said Jon Olson, Blackbaud’s general counsel. “It enables us to follow a regular procedure every 10 business days to assess and adjust the closing timeline as appropriate.”

The original merger notification stipulated the purchase of Convio for $275 million, or $16 per share.