Reuters – Actian Offers $139M For Pervasive Software

Big data management company Actian Corp. has gone public with a $139 million bid to buy Pervasive Software Inc., which makes software to manage large amounts of data. Privately held Actian, which runs the Vectorwise and Ingres databases that offer fast processes of vast amounts of data, offered $8.50 per share, a 29.7 percent premium to Pervasive’s Friday closing price of $6.55.

(Reuters) – Big data management company Actian Corp has gone public with a $139 million bid to buy Pervasive Software Inc, which makes software to manage large amounts of data.

Privately held Actian, which runs the Vectorwise and Ingres databases that offer fast processes of vast amounts of data, offered $8.50 per share, a 29.7 percent premium to Pervasive’s Friday closing price of $6.55.

Pervasive’s shares, after touching a high of $8.25, were trading up 23 percent at $8.07 on Monday on the Nasdaq.

Actian said it saw the two companies as complementary and said approaches to Pervasive had gone nowhere.

“Given Pervasive’s repeated refusal to engage with us regarding our proposal… we are left with no other choice but to make our proposal public,” Actian Chief Executive Steve Shine wrote in a letter to Pervasive CEO John Farr and Pervasive’s board.

“We believe that Pervasive’s stockholders are entitled to know about and evaluate for themselves the merits of our proposal.”

In a separate statement, Pervasive said it would evaluate the offer and take the course of action which benefits its shareholders.

Actian, which claims the world’s fastest database and is backed by private equity firm Garnett & Helfrich Capital, said it expected to finance the planned purchase through a combination of cash and debt, and said it was in discussion with a number of lenders.

Actian’s cloud development platform builds apps for big data management and owns databases that help analyze big data faster for customers such as Oxford University, Cathay Pacific Airways and Lufthansa.

Evercore Partners is acting as Actian’s financial advisor for the deal.

The offer values Pervasive at about $139 million in cash based on shares outstanding, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Actian Corp, formerly Ingres Corp, values the deal at about $154 million, including dilution from options and restricted stock.