A private equity company has taken another software provider private. Symphony Technology Group has acquired MSC.Software, a simulation software specialist, for $8.40 per share, a total price tag of roughly $390 million.
Yesterday’s announcement of the completed deal culminated a bidding war that stretched back to July, when private equity interest Symphony Technology Group offered its initial bid of $7.63 per share. That proposal drew fire from some of MSC’s shareholders and served to ignite a rapid-fire exchange of increasing bids between Symphony and an unnamed group of private equity players. Recent press reports identified those bidders as Golden Gate Capital and Vector Capital.
In a statement announcing the deal, Symphony said that its investment subsidiary, Maximus Holdings Inc., along with co-investor Elliott Management Corp., a major MSC shareholder, had purchased “all outstanding shares of MSC stock.”
Back in May 2008, when Elliott had accumulated in excess of 9% of MSC’s stock, the hedge fund signaled an interest in seeing MSC sold. This is not the only time Elliott has acquired a large stake in a technology company and used its position to agitate for change. In late 2008 and into 2009, Elliott pursued a buyout of ERP provider Epicor, a protracted battle that ended with Elliott’s effectively gaining two seats on Epicor’s board and increasing its investment in the company in exchange for observing a “standstill” on takeover offers through February 2010.