Schneider Electric agrees complete takeover of software developer Aveva Group
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Aveva Group is acquired by French industrial giant Schneider Electric with a software developer valued at £9.4 billion
- Schneider said it would buy the rest of Aveva’s shares for £31 each
- The group plans to keep Aveva’s headquarters in Cambridge
- Britain’s few publicly traded technology companies have been a notable target for takeovers
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Aveva Group has agreed to a full acquisition by Schneider Electric in a deal valuing the Cambridge-based industrial software provider at £9.4 billion.
French conglomerate Schneider had until 4 p.m. today to announce its intentions for Aveva after telling investors a month ago that it was considering buying the 41 percent of the company it doesn’t already own.
It announced this morning that it would acquire the rest of the company for £31 a share, representing a premium of about a third to Aveva’s average closing price for the three months to August 23.
Ambition: Schneider Electric said the full acquisition would help accelerate both Aveva’s software growth strategy and move to a hybrid cloud-based subscription model
The deal is the latest in a wave of takeovers of London-listed companies by foreign buyers, who have exploited a sluggish UK stock market and weaker pound to acquire companies at a relative discount.
The few publicly traded technology companies in Britain have been targeted. This includes Micro Focus International, which last month agreed to sell to Canadian software developer OpenText for £5.1 billion.
Schneider, a specialist in digital automation and energy efficiency, said the latest deal would help accelerate both Aveva’s software growth strategy and move to a hybrid cloud-based subscription model.
It plans to keep Aveva’s headquarters in Cambridge, where the company was founded in 1967 and is home to ‘Silicon Fen’ due to the region’s important cluster of high-tech companies.
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, the CEO of Schneider Electric, said the full acquisition “will accelerate the company’s growth by simplifying decision-making, enabling seamless interactions between teams, accelerating our investments in R&D and enabling a more coordinated sales strategy.” to make’.
He added, “We are fully committed to Aveva’s hardware agnostic and autonomous business model and to maintaining the software culture that is the source of innovation and success.
“The strong combination of Aveva’s data platform and specialized applications with Schneider Electric’s energy expertise will deliver tangible benefits to customers in all aspects of safety, reliability, efficiency and sustainability.”
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to approval from investors, who will receive an interim dividend worth up to 13p per share if they give the thumbs up.
Schneider became a majority shareholder in Aveva five years ago after buying a 59 percent stake for more than £500 million as part of a reverse takeover that allowed the latter group to keep its London listing.
It has undergone a steep growth trajectory in recent years, with revenue of €28.9 billion in 2021, compared to €25.2 billion the year before, as companies have tried to conserve energy and build their data centers.
Aveva Chairman Philip Aiken said, “Customers are increasingly turning to industrial software to find greater efficiency and sustainability, and the combination with Schneider Electric will enable Aveva to accelerate its strategy execution and further improve its customer proposition.”