Gartner to Buy Back ValueAct's $58m Share

US technology researcher Gartner is buying back the remaining company shares held by its largest investor ValueAct Capital Partners, for just over $58m.

Earlier this year, ValueAct offered 8,000,000 shares of Gartner common stock in a registered public offering, which reduced its stake in the firm from 17.5% to 8.7%. Gartner did not receive any proceeds from the sale.

Gartner - led by CEO Gene Hall (pictured) - is now buying back ValueAct's remaining 1.6 million shares at a price of $35.20 each - a 3.5% discount on Monday's closing price of $36.46, and valuing the company at more than $3.1bn.

The purchase is part of Gartner's previously announced $500m share repurchase program, and will leave it with around $295m remaining in the program.

Last month, Gartner's research division reported record contract value - up 14% to $1,036m in Q3 2011 - while revenue rose 17% to $345.8m compared with last year's Q3, and net income climbed 52% to $30.5m.

Web site: www.gartner.com .