Home » Lexmark bid to acquire Swedish software firm succeeds as competitor withdraw its bid

Lexmark bid to acquire Swedish software firm succeeds as competitor withdraw its bid

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 22, 2014) — Lexmark International will succeed in its months-long effort to purchase Sweden’s ReadSoft AB and merge that company into its Perceptive Software division. Hyland Software UK Ltd issued a statement today saying it is withdrawing its bid for ReadSoft because its stated goal of obtaining 90 percent of that company’s shares cannot be achieved.

Lexmark announced Wednesday that it had acquired addition Class A and Class B shares in ReadSoft AB representing 42.9 percent of the shares and 57.7 percent of the votes in aggregate.

Twice earlier this month Lexmark increased its cash offer for ReadSoft in what had become a bidding war with Hyland Software of Ohio. Hyland had acquired 10.9 percent of ReadSoft, and increase its offer to Swedish Krona (SEK) 55.00 per share. Lexmark raise its offer to SEK 55.50 and then SEK 57.00, which is approximately $8.24.

Lexmark began its acquisition effort in May with an offer equivalent to $6.11 per share.

In subsequent public statements it issued, Lexmark said it made the decision to pursue ReadSoft because it believes the combination of ReadSoft, which is a provider of business data and information management products, with Lexmark’s Perceptive Software is a strong strategic fit.

Headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden, ReadSoft was founded in 1991 and has approximately 625 employees. Its full-year 2013 revenue was approximately $117 million.

In its early statements regarding the intended acquisition, Lexmark said the offer for ReadSoft is consistent with its stated capital allocation strategy to pursue acquisitions that strengthen and support the growth of Lexmark solutions capabilities, while returning more than 50 percent of free cash flow to shareholders.

For 2013, Lexmark reported annual revenue of $3.668 billion and earnings per share of $4.08,