The thrilling story about the takeover of Blue Prism seems to enter the homestretch. The first day of winter 2021-2022 brought the news that the board of the Britain RPA specialist is recommending shareholders vote to approve SS&C latest all-cash offer of 1,275 pence/share, which is higher than an earlier bid of 1,200 pence and above private equity firm Vista Equity Partners’ final offer of 1,250 pence/share. So the deal values the company at about 1.2 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).
Let’s recollect the whole story in chronological order.
- This September Blue Prism confirmed that it had entered discussions on the possible takeover with TPG Capital and Vista Equity Partners.
- A few weeks later, the British vendor approved a £1.1bn ($1.5B) takeover offer from US private equity firm Vista Equity Partners that was going to merge Blue Prism into its other asset, Tibco Software.
- In mid-November, Blue Prism said that it was reviewing a potential 1,200 pence-a-share offer from SS&C, which improved on an earlier bid from Vista Equity Partners at 1,125 pence a share.
- Vista then raised its bid to a final recommended cash offer of 1,250.
- Blue Prism directors have now unanimously decided to withdraw their Vista recommendation.
“The opportunity presented to combine Blue Prism with SS&C will bring us access to significant capital resources and investment in R&D alongside access to SS&C’s extensive 18,000 customers.”
Jason Kingdon, Chairman and CEO, Blue Prism