Smartsheet, an enterprise work management software platform, announced Tuesday that it is being acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash deal valued at $8.4 billion. Shareholders will receive $56.50 per share, a 41 percent premium to the average closing price over the past three months, according to a press release.

Vista Equity Partners, which has more than $100 billion in assets, has long specialized in deals with enterprise software companies. The Austin, Texas-based private equity firm was co-founded in 2000 by billionaire Robert F. Smith, known for his negotiating skills but also for paying $139 million in taxes and penalties in 2020 in connection with an illegal tax evasion scheme. New York City-based Blackstone is the world’s largest private equity firm, with more than $1 trillion in assets.

New York-based hedge fund Eminence Capital, founded and run by Ricky Sandler, appears to be the big winner in this deal among active investors. The firm, which manages $7.2 billion in assets and specializes in bottom-up value investing, held 4.3 million Smartsheet shares at the time of its last quarterly report. While that position may have changed since then, Eminence was the largest hedge fund holder of the shares at the end of June. Smartsheet was also the fund’s sixth-largest holding, according to FactSet.

According to FactSet, Eminence began buying Smartsheet shares in the second half of 2022, when the stock was at its lowest level this decade. The fund initially bought 2.4 million shares at around $34 each and has since grown its position to 4.3 million shares, with an average purchase price of around $36 per share. With Smartsheet now being acquired at $56.50, Eminence Capital could earn around $90 million, a 60% gain in just two years.

This is not the first time that Sandler and Eminence Capital have made money from a spectacular takeover. The fund was the largest hedge fund owner of Keurig Green Mountain when it was bought by JAB Capital in 2015 at a premium of 78 percent. A month before the deal, Sandler had publicly promoted Keurig’s shares at the Invest for Kids Chicago conference, a hedge fund industry event.

Eminence Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The deal is expected to close in late January.