The latest bid from the French industrial group represents nearly a 47% premium to the closing price of £21.92 per AVEVA share on 23 August 2022 and is also an increase of 125p or 4% per AVEVA Share as compared to the original offer price
Schneider Electric raises its bid to buy the remaining stake in AVEVA. (Credit: Schneider Electric/Wikimedia Commons)
France-based Schneider Electric has raised its offer to take over British industrial software company AVEVA to £32.25 per share in cash.
According to Schneider Electric, the increased bid, which is its final cash offer, values 100% of AVEVA at £9.86bn.
In September 2022, the industrial software company was offered to be acquired by French industrial group for £31 per share in cash. However, Davidson Kempner, one of the major investors along with several other investors of Aveva threatened to vote against the offer, reported Reuters.
The latest bid from Schneider Electric represents a nearly 47% premium to the closing price of £21.92 per AVEVA share on 23 August 2022. It is an increase of 125p or 4% per AVEVA Share as compared to the original offer price.
AVEVA said that its independent committee, under the advice of Lazard, Numis, and J.P. Morgan Cazenove, has determined the terms of the latest offer to be both fair and reasonable.
The independent committee has therefore unanimously advised AVEVA shareholders to vote in favour of the acquisition offer from Schneider Electric.
Schneider Electric currently owns a stake of 59.1% in the British firm. In 2018, the latter completed a merger with the industrial software business of Schneider Electric.
AVEVA delivers end-to-end industrial digital twins to clients to assist with their installations and processes throughout the lifecycle.
In 2021, the British industrial software firm acquired OSIsoft, a platform for data acquisition and structuring for industrial customers.
By taking full ownership of AVEVA, Schneider Electric intends to ensure value creation for customers by combining energy and process data and developing an enterprise data hub that is supplemented by specialised industrial software solutions.