The battle to buy Misys, the banking software specialist which has been a perennial takeover target, today looked set to be won by US buy-out giant Vista Equity Partners after rival bidders CVC Capital Partners and ValueAct Capital pulled out.
Misys agreed a £1.27 billion takeover deal with Vista in March, but in response CVC and ValueAct — the latter is the software-maker’s biggest shareholder — said they were looking at a joint counter-bid.
Today, however, the duo walked away from the deal table, saying: “CVC and ValueAct confirm that they do not intend to proceed with an offer for Misys.” Shares in Misys plunged almost 3% or 9.5p to 348.5p as City analysts said the fight for Misys was finally over, with Vista’s 350p-a-share offer the victor. In a note titled “I have the fat lady on line two”, George O’Connor at Panmure Gordon said: “Uberbulls might well talk up the (outside) chance of some trade buyer creeping out of the woodwork — but we do not see it. This is a good price for Misys. Now, investors need to think about where to reinvest the Misys lolly.”
The banking software company was first plunged into the M&A spotlight last year, when US rival Fidelity National Information Services offered 400p a share. Those talks collapsed, and in February Misys agreed terms for a $2 billion merger with Swiss rival Temenos. But investors’ disdain for the all-share deal saw hopes of that tie-up also dissolve.
Last month Misys — which has been without a permanent chief executive since Mike Lawrie joined struggling IT firm Computer Sciences Corporation in February — admitted its sales were down 12% in the three months to March.
Vista, which is based in Texas, is planning to merge Misys with Kondor, the former Thomson Reuters technology business that it bought last year.
