BANGALORE June 22 (Reuters) - IT security company SonicWall Inc (NASDAQ:SNWL) said in a filing it had been approached by a privately held company to be acquired for $12 a share, trumping an earlier offer from private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
Earlier this month, the New York-based private equity firm had offered to acquire the company for $11.50 a share, or about $717 million.
Shares of SonicWall, which provides secure Internet access to both wired and wireless broadband customers, rose as much as 5 percent to $11.88 in morning trade amid heavy volumes on Nasdaq.
According to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SonicWall's board had received an "unsolicited non-binding proposal from...a privately held competitor" to buy the company for $12 a share in cash.
SonicWall board has not approved, adopted or recommended the proposal or declared it superior to its merger agreement with Thoma Bravo, it said.
"Our board of directors continue to recommend that you vote "for" the (Thoma Bravo) proposal to approve the principal terms of the merger agreement."
It added that there is no assurance that negotiations over the fresh proposal will ultimately lead to an agreement. (Reporting by Mansi Dutta in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
 |
