A group of shareholders of MSC.Software Corp. is mounting an investigation into the board of directors’ agreement earlier this week to sell the company to Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm.
Under the definitive agreement, Symphony will acquire all of MSC’s outstanding shares in an all-cash merger transaction valued at roughly $360 million. Stockholders in the simulation software company will receive $7.63 per share of common stock, which the companies said represents a 13% premium over the closing price at the time of the announcement.
Symphony’s enterprise software and services investment portfolio of nine companies includes Symphony Metreo, Aldata, IRI, and the publicly held Lawson (via its controlling interest in Intentia, which Lawson purchased in 2006).
“MSC has a long history of driving innovation in the design simulation space for multiple industries,” said Romesh Washwani, CEO and managing director of STG, in a statement. “Symphony’s mission is to be a partner in helping to build great companies and in enabling growth through innovation, so we are very pleased to have the opportunity to build upon the strong franchise that the MSC team has developed over the past 45 years.”