Semantics

Huge hat tip to Dan Dunkley, the young M&A reporter over at The Sunday Times, for his story back in May about how Aveva was being circled by potential foreign predators. In case you don't recall, The Sunday Times ran the story on the front page (which means something in itself). Here is a link to the copy:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Tech_and_Media/article1557075.ece

Dan also followed his story up with this piece, which was on the money:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/article1568362.ece

The stories, though, were dismissed by some market practitioners/watchers because there wasn't a formal confirmation from either side (i.e. Aveva or Schneider) and Aveva's CEO, Richard Longdon, was also reported to have said the company hadn't received any takeover approaches.

However, this morning Aveva and Schneider Electric revealed a merger deal that will see the French company take a 53pc stake in the London-listed software company. Here is a link to the deal announcement:

http://www.investegate.co.uk/aveva-group-plc--avv-/rns/aveva-and-schneider-to-create-a-global-leader/201507200700124467T/

Either Schneider suddenly came up with the idea after reading The Sunday Times or both parties managed to wriggle out of any formal statement because the transaction is being structured as a "reverse takeover". Indeed, a broker report (see below) from this morning would appear to imply it was a case of the latter rather than the former.

"On this morning's conference call, Aveva's CEO Richard Longdon said Schneider had decided to structure the deal as a reverse takeover rather than the straight acquisition that had been mooted in media reports to retain more flexibility to make further acquisitions."There was not an offer on the table to buy the business outright," he said, adding that there is no break-fee or exclusivity period."