Blue Prism agrees to SS&C takeover, withdraws support for Vista bid
- Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Blue Prism (LSE: PRSM), a British robotic process automation company, agreed to a £1.24 billion takeover offer from SS&C Technologies (Nasdaq: SSNC) and withdrew its support for a slightly lower bid from Vista Equity Partners.
Why it matters: Vista has a reputation for winning deals with its wallet, not for getting beat out on price.
Background: Vista originally topped a rival bid from TPG Capital, but Blue Prism shareholder Coast Capital (2.8% stake) last week said its offer was too low. There's still the possibility that Vista will come back over the top.
The bottom line: "The SS&C offer would give each Blue Prism shareholder 1,275p a share, a premium of 53.2% to the closing price of 832p on August 27, which was the last business day before sale talks were first disclosed... Vista's price was a 35% premium to Blue Prism's closing price in August but less than half its all-time high three years ago." — Sarah Provan, FT