Silver Lake secures 63% in Software AG despite counter-offer from Rocket Software

U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake said it has secured 63 percent stake in Software AG and aims to pursue a delisting of the business software developer.
Software AG headquarterEarlier this month, Bain Capital and Rocket Software sold all their shares in Software AG to Silver Lake, helping the company gain a 41 percent stake.

The final results for the initial acceptance period is expected to be issued on July 3, the company said.

Silver Lake had in April offered to buy Software AG for 30 euros per share, valuing the German software developer at 2.2 billion euros ($2.39 billion). The bid prompted a counter-offer from Rocket Software, owned by private equity firm Bain Capital.

In May, the software developer said it supported a sweetened 32 euros per share offer from Silver Lake for the company.

Software AG’s management and supervisory boards supported Silver Lake despite Bain’s higher offer of 36 euros per share, drawing criticism from minority shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting last month.