The likelihood that Misys will end up in the Vista Equity Partners camp increased today with the news that the CVC Capital Partners/Value Act Capital combo will not be making a rival bid for the UK banking software company. That leaves Vista with its c$1.2bn cash offer as the only player left at the table.
It is not a done deal of course but another suitor is unlikely at this stage. We had previously marked Vista as the strongest contender given its other investments in the sector (See Misys/Temenos halted by Vista Equity Partners?), despite ValueAct being Misys’ largest shareholder with a 21.5% stake. The Vista deal has the backing of the Misys board and two of the three largest shareholders (Threadneedle and Schroders) who together own 25 of the shares.
Misys and Vista will want to move quickly to conclude the deal, at which point hopefully we’ll see how it will fit into the Vista portfolio and what sort of changes it will undergo.