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It might encourage TPG to make a more sensible offer...
@AutomationGuru Directors with conflicts of interest should not vote on such matters anyway, plus as an independent director he wouldn't hold much shares if it came to a shareholder vote.
Vista were looking to sell off Tibco a few months back, and I don't see a natural fit with Blue Prism being part of a smaller cloud player when they're busy building stuff on AWS instead.
At least we have a floor price. A disappointing one nonetheless
Did anybody catch this in the announcement....."One of Blue Prism’s independent directors, Murray Rode, was previously a longtime member of Tibco Software’s management and served as its CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER after its purchase by Vista."
So if Blue Prism will be merged with Tibco (for the benefit of Tibco shareholders), and Blue Prism's board member is its former CEO, then Murray Rode probably still has a load of Tibco stock thus benefiting from selling the company for peanuts against the best interest of Blue Prism shareholders. In fact, I don't believe Mr. Rode has many Blue Prism shares, so its in his best interest to go against Blue Prism shareholders.
Then, you consider that Blue Prism's CFO sold basically all of his shares in February for 1,600 (50% more than the takeover price), he is also not incentivized to do what's best for shareholders since he has no skin in the game.
This is so jacked up! If this goes through, there will be LAWSUITS! Mark my words. Only saving grace is another suitor could come along and swoop this up for cheap, and the board would have to go along with it. Otherwise, this is at a minimum unethical, and at worst, corrupt.
Ignore until you see official news. No decent CEO or board would recommend a buyout at less than the current share price given they have complained long before the drop to 800p about the discount vs. competitors and the need to list in the US. It might very well be an injection of capital and not a buyout offer. 0 chance an £11 offer goes through
Anyone else think this might just be Rumour being spread to try and scare private investors into bailing out early?
Scandalously low bid offer! This might just kick off a bidding war, I would be shocked if there isn’t any counter offers as this would be a day light robbery else..
This offer is garbage! Should be AT LEAST 20% higher than current share price. The Blue Prism board should decline it, as this is giving away a wonderful company for peanuts. The good news is that I think a competing bid will emerge if this is how low the hurdle is.
That proposed offer would not get my vote. Our historical share price shows where we could recover to without being sold.
Very disappointing price if this goes through.
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners is nearing an agreement to acquire British automation software developer Blue Prism Group Plc for about 1.1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion), people familiar with the matter said. The U.K. technology company is set to recommend Vista’s bid of 1,125 pence a share as soon as Tuesday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The offer would represent a premium of about 35% to Blue Prism’s closing price of 832 pence on Aug. 27, the last full trading day before takeover interest became public. Blue Prism said in late August that it was in discussions with Vista and TPG about possible offers for the company. Both firms have until 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday to declare whether they would will make a firm offer under U.K. takeover rules. After the Vista deal, the buyout firm aims to combine Blue Prism with existing portfolio company Tibco Software Inc., which it acquired in 2014, the people said. Vista plans to maintain Blue Prism’s U.K. headquarters and invest in research and development, they said.
While Blue Prism’s board is endorsing the Vista offer, other suitors could still emerge, the people said. Representatives for Vista and Blue Prism declined to comment.
Shares of Blue Prism have fallen about 31% in London trading this year, giving the company a market value of about 1.15 billion pounds. One of Blue Prism’s independent directors, Murray Rode, was previously a longtime member of Tibco Software’s management and served as its chief executive officer after its purchase by Vista. Activist investor Coast Capital, which owns just under 3% of Blue Prism, recently said it’s open to a private equity takeover of the company after initially opposing a sale. The investment firm’s founder James Rasteh said the company’s management had now earned his trust.
The software company’s depressed valuation reflects concerns about gaps in its product portfolio and its distance from key clients and investors in the U.S., Rasteh said in August. He said his firm had spent five months drawing up potential operational improvements that would accelerate Blue Prism’s sales growth. Vista, which focuses on investments in enterprise software companies, was founded by billionaire Robert F. Smith in 2000. It has more than $81 billion in assets under management, according to the firm’s website. Shares of Blue Prism have fallen about 31% in London trading this year, giving the company a market value of about 1.15 billion pounds. One of Blue Prism’s independent directors, Murray Rode, was previously a longtime member of Tibco Software’s management and served as its chief executive officer after its purchase by Vista. Activist investor Coast Capital, which owns just under 3% of Blue Prism, recently said it’s open to a private equity takeover of the company after initially opposing a sale. The investment firm’s founder James Rasteh said the company’s management had now earned his trust.
Yes looks like a bidding war is starting
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vista-said-near-1-5-173215864.html
While Blue Prism’s board is endorsing the Vista offer, other suitors could still emerge, the people said. Representatives for Vista and Blue Prism declined to comment.
MEDIA-Vista said near $1.5 billion deal for software firm Blue Prism- Bloomberg News
Looks like an extension may be more likely, unless they are leaving it till the last day to make an announcement…if any at all
@jamstar,many thanks.I really appreciate your detailed explanation.How funny you used Morrison’s as a comparison.I sold mine after the big jump,and it was the right thing to do.
ATB
@Fairy1 even when an offer is made it takes months to close the deal. Sometimes there are regulatory and anti compete reviews to go through which can extend closing. In Blueprism's case its most likely board and shareholder approvals and tender process for your shares by the acquirer that can extend timelines. Shares will trade at a slight discount to offer price when it's made to factor in the risk it doesnt close, unless there is a strong belief in a competing bid. Case in point would be Morrison's. You don't need to wait until Tender offer is made as the share price should be quite close to the offer price.
@PrettyWild,excuse my daftness….what exactly do you mean as to do we get our share deal straight away,or do we have to wait?
TIA
ATB
Heres hoping
I've just read that in rns, what happens if a deal is struck, do we get our share deal straight away? Or how long do we have to wait for??
Co-founder, David Moss, just disclosed an hour ago that he moved 30% (600k) of his 2M shares into a trust. You likely wouldn't do this unless you thought a deal was going through given that you lose ownership and control of your shares when make a move like that. Looks to me like he's looking to transfer the shares at a lower price, so that when the shar price pops, the appreciation occurs in the name of the trust. Smart move on his part, but the timing of when this happened may just give away that a deal is all but imminent.
Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, Automation Anywhere (most likely to least likely). I expect TPG to make a bid
I think there definitely will be an opening offer (or two) on the table by the end of the day Tuesday. The offer(s) may or may not be high enough for management to accept, but I think it will be well north of Friday's close price resulting in an early to mid-week pop in the share price. After that, it will come down to negotiation and whether there are multiple offers to see how high we go from there. Onward and upward ladies and gentlemen! :)
Time Extension I suspect but hope I am wrong.
GLA
R
@jamstar - I totally agree, just hope the initial bid/offer is sooner rather then late, to allow any other counter bids to come through…Who do reckon will be the other bidders other than the two private equity firms?
Might be an offer on the table but not one that management or board would like. Private equity drive a hard bargain from my experience, £13-15 range probably, unlikely to be anything more generous as an opening offer. I think with Quattrone on board more bidders will appear.
Going into the last two days before the offer period ends, what is everyone thoughts/feelings?