Clearlake sticks to $71/shr offer for Blackbaud, urges strategic review

March 29 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Clearlake Capital on Wednesday reiterated a $71 per share offer for Blackbaud Inc that it had previously rejected and urged the cloud software firm to explore strategic alternatives.

Clearlake, the largest shareholder in Blackbaud with an 18.3% stake, has been persistently attempting to acquire the company in the last few months.

Responding to the latest offer that pegged it at about $3.8 billion, the firm said on Monday the proposal was "highly opportunistic and significantly undervalues Blackbaud."

Last year, Blackbaud adopted a shareholder rights plan or a so-called "poison pill" to protect itself from a takeover after the private equity firm said it was talking to the firm's management about evaluating alternatives.

"Many enterprise software companies have a challenging path forward in the current environment, and we believe the company's current challenges would be best addressed by exploring strategic alternatives via a formal process to maximize stockholder value," Clearlake said in a letter to the company on Wednesday.

Blackbaud did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)