Misys receives bid approach for takeover

British financial software company Misys has received been approached with a takeover bid, which the market had been expecting for some weeks, sending its shares up more than 8 per cent yesterday.

The company supplies software to banks, fund managers and traders. It said it was taking the approach seriously and was in talks with one bidder over a sale of the whole company, without disclosing the identity of the bidder.

Misys shares, rose sharply from around 312 pence in early May on market speculation and vaulted 8.5 per cent to a 10-year high at 417 pence.

According to analysts, a deal could be struck at more than 450 pence a share, which would value the group at about $1.5 billion.

The Financial Times said on Monday, rumours had it that company had opened its books to a US-listed peer. It said without citing sources on its FT Alphaville website yesterday that the approach was pitched at 450-460 pence a share.

Misys competes with companies such as Temenos, Fidelity National Information services, Fiserv and has all 50 of the world's top 50 banks as its clients.