The acquisition battle between Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) and Hyland Software’s UK unit added another round this week; Hyland increased its bid to 55 kronor per share on Monday, followed on Tuesday by a counteroffer from Lexmark of 55.50 kronor per share for all outstanding shares in ReadSoft (Stockholm: RSOF-B).
This is the third round of back-and-forth in the battle over ReadSoft. Lexmark started off with an initial bid of 40.50 kronor in May, followed in June by a 42.86 kronor offer from Hyland UK. Lexmark countered with an increase to 50 kronor in July.
Lexmark’s latest offer is pegged at $248 million for all the outstanding shares of ReadSoft, which is $24 million higher than its prior acquisition price. Lexmark currently owns 5.3% of ReadSoft’s shares, and would look to fold the Swedish company into its Perceptive Software unit if the acquisition does indeed go through.
ReadSoft confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the company had received Lexmark’s raised offer and said the company is “grateful and happy to have this situation with two very professional, very series bidders.”
Ardent performed an analysis of the initial May bid for ReadSoft; that analysis still holds true today. Now we need only wait and see who will end up acquiring ReadSoft at the end of the day to see what happens.
