MISYS, A British financial software company, continues to consider offers from Vista Equity Partners, ValueAct Capital and CVC Capital Partners after merger talks with Switzerland’s Temenos Group ended.
Last month Misys and Temenos said they were working on a merger that would create the largest vendor of banking software. “Despite extensive discussions, the parties were unable to agree final terms of a transaction,” Misys said in a statement yesterday.
Last week ValueAct Capital, Misys’s largest shareholder and initially a backer of Temenos’s merger proposal, joined forces with buyout firm CVC Capital Partners to work on a cash bid for the London-based company, which has had a Dublin office since its 1995 acquisition of Kindle Banking Systems.
Vista Equity Partners is also considering a separate offer.
Misys said it will continue talks with the private equity companies.
Misys dropped as much as 1.8 per cent to 335p in London yesterday, valuing the company at £1.12 billion (€1.33bn). Temenos dropped 3.1 per cent in Zurich.
Geneva-based Temenos, which initially had until March 6th to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Misys, last week had gained approval to defer the decision until April 2nd.
Temenos said it still has the right to make an offer for Misys or participate in an offer if Misys’s board agrees or if a third party makes a firm bid. These are “standard conditions” for ending merger talks in the UK, a Temenos spokesman said.
Misys has formed an independent committee of board directors to consider all offers.
Misys in February agreed to the Temenos proposal, which would have give its shareholders 54 per cent of the combined company. Previous talks to sell the business to Fidelity National Information Services last year collapsed when the two failed to agree on price.
Companies that sell financial software to businesses are proving attractive to private-equity firms as mounting banking regulations increase demand. In August, Bain Capital agreed to buy a majority stake in MYOB, an Australian provider of business software that had also attracted a bid from Sage Group. – (Bloomberg)
