A bidding competition is brewing for the Darmstadt-based company.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The US technology investor Silver Lake has increased its offer for Darmstadt-based Software AG from 30 to 32 euros per share. Both companies announced this in separate communications. The Californians now value the company at 2.4 billion euros.
The Bloomberg news agency had previously reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the US financial investor Bain Capital had submitted an offer of 34 euros. So Silver Lake would stay below with its new offering.
Software AG shares rose by up to 7.8 percent to €35.88, which is still above the price Bain had envisaged.
Silver Lake had offered the 30 euros per share almost two weeks ago and had already secured a large block of shares from the Darmstadt-based company’s major shareholder, the Software AG Foundation. The closing price of the SDax-listed share in the main Xetra transaction was EUR 35.24, well above both offers.
Software AG continues to support Silver Lake’s offer, it said. The company confirmed the existence of another offer, but gave no names or conditions. The Darmstadt-based company emphasized that it would recommend shareholders to accept Silver Lake’s increased offer.
Through its own software company Rocket Software, Bain indirectly gained access to a good ten percent of the shares in the Darmstadt-based company, 4.5 percent of which were direct. The investor has secured access to a further 5.5 percent of the voting rights via financial instruments. Silver Lake already owns over 30 percent.
Silver Lake is known as an investor in technology companies, among other things, the Americans also want to take over the SAP market research subsidiary Qualtrics together with the Canadian pension fund CPP Investment in a billion-dollar deal. Silver Lake had already invested in Software AG via a convertible bond in 2022. Since then, the company has had two members of the Darmstadt-based supervisory board, the chairman of the board, Christian Lucas, and the IT expert James Whitehurst.
More: Financial investor Silver Lake wants to take over Software AG completely