SoftwareOne Board dissatisfied with Bain’s $3.2bn Offer

SoftwareOne Holding AG’s board said Bain Capital’s 2.93bn Swiss-franc ($3.2bn) offer to take the IT services provider private undervalues the company, the latest hurdle in the private equity firm’s attempt to buy a European tech company.

 The board, excluding founder Daniel von Stockar who recused himself, voted unanimously that the offer was not sufficiently substantiated, SoftwareOne said in a statement.

 According to Bain, the offer values the Swiss IT services provider at 18.50 francs per share, a 22% premium to Wednesday’s closing price. SoftwareOne’s founding shareholders, who together own 29.1% of the company, backed the proposal, according to the statement.

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 The shares surged as much as 21% to 18.35 francs in early trading in Zurich. The stock has risen about 40% for the year through Thursday’s intraday session.

 SoftwareOne, based in Stans, Switzerland, consults companies on their software purchases, and partners with providers such as Amazon Web Services Inc., Adobe Inc., IBM Corp. It’s also among the largest resellers of US software giant Microsoft Corp.’s licenses.

Bain is currently battling another private equity giant, Silver Lake Management, to take over Germany’s Software AG. In that fight, some investors have criticised management for backing Silver Lake’s bid even though Bain is offering a higher price.

Source:  Yahoo! Finance

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