Silver Lake, a US-based private equity firm that specializes in investing in technology companies, is making a bid to take over German firm Software AG. The bid would offer shareholders 30 euros per share, which would value the company at about 2.2 billion euros. This would represent a premium on the Software AG share price, which was 19.84 euros at the close of the market on Friday. Silver Lake’s takeover bid is subject to a minimum threshold of 50 percent plus one shareholder accepting the offer.
Silver Lake has already secured part of this threshold due to its purchase of convertible bonds from Software AG in 2002, which amounted to 344 million euros. Additionally, the Software AG Foundation, the largest shareholder in the company, has agreed to sell 25.1 percent of its shares to Silver Lake.
The supervisory board and the board of directors of Software AG have signaled their support for the takeover bid and plan to recommend that the shareholders accept the offer. The Software AG Foundation, which previously held almost a third of the company, also fully supports the bid.
This takeover bid is seen as a friendly one, as all parties involved are expressing support and cooperation. However, it remains to be seen if other potential bidders will emerge or if shareholders will accept the terms of the deal. For now, all eyes are on Silver Lake and Software AG to see if this bid will go through.
