Windsor-based investment software and services provider SS&C Technologies has once again upped its bid for Australian fund administrator Mainstream Group Holdings Limited.
In a statement released Tuesday, the firm said it is offering to pay $2.66 per share, equivalent to an enterprise value of $306 million, to acquire 100% of Mainstream, up from its previous offer of $2.56 per share, or $290 million, made earlier this month.
Bermuda-based Apex Group, which for the last several weeks has engaged SS&C in a bidding war for Mainstream, countered that same day with an offer of $2.75 per share, according to documents available through the Australian Securities Exchange. On Wednesday, Mainstream’s board of directors officially determined that Apex’s latest offer constitutes a “superior proposal,” giving SS&C until June 1 to match that deal or put forward more favorable terms.
SS&C first announced plans to attempt to buy Mainstream on April 12, when it entered into a conditional scheme implementation deed proposing a purchase price of $2 per share. At the time, chairman and CEO Bill Stone said Mainstream’s fund and superannuation services complement SS&C’s existing administrative services in Australia and around the world and “demonstrate great revenue growth potential.”
According to Australian Securities Exchange filings, SS&C outbid business services provider Vistra but has gone back and forth with Apex several times.
Most recently, on May 13, the firm upped its offer to $2.61 per share. Apex answered by boosting its price to $2.65 per share, and that bid was confirmed as superior by Mainstream last week, prompting SS&C to enter its new offer on Tuesday.
Mainstream has over 330 employees and eight locations, with offices in Australia, the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, Malta, the U.K. and the Cayman Islands.
