Alterian snub for £50m SDL takeover bid
SHARES in Alterian surged yesterday after the marketing and social media software specialist rejected a £50million takeover bid from translation software maker SDL.
Its shares leapt 171⁄2p to 81p after SDL said it had tabled a proposal on Friday for a bid valuing Alterian at 80p a share, a premium of about 40 per cent above the undisturbed share price on Thursday.
Alterian shares have halved during the past year following a profits warning in April, blamed on a single customer delaying a contract. It led to the departure of long-standing chief executive David Eldridge, who was replaced by Heath Davies.
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Under the new takeover rules, SDL has to announce a firm bid by November 21 or walk away. Davies will be publishing the result of a major review into the business at about the same time. He said when launching the review last month that it would “not investigate an option to sell the business”.
Alterian shares surged yesterday after the marketing and social media software specialist rejected a £50million takeover bid
SDL said there was a “strong strategic fit” between the two companies and believed “Alterian would be well placed to serve and expand its customer base”.
