ERP Vendor Lawson Software Gets Acquisition Bid

NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) – Lawson Software said
late on Friday it had received an unsolicited bid from privately
held software company Infor and Golden Gate Capital to acquire
all its outstanding common stock at $11.25 per share in cash.

Shares of the software maker closed on Friday at $11.55,
after having risen 18 percent since Tuesday, when Reuters
reported it had hired Barclays Capital to explore a
sale of the business.

The offer price from Infor and Golden Gate Capital — a San
Francisco private equity firm that holds a major stake in Infor
— would value Lawson at $1.8 billion.

Lawson said in a release it is conducting talks with Infor
and Golden Gate, but there is no assurance an agreement will be
reached.

The company said it does not intend to comment further
unless and until an agreement is reached, discussions with Infor
and Golden Gate have been terminated, or Lawson’s board
concludes an ongoing strategic review.

Officials with Infor and Golden Gate Capital could not
immediately be reached for comment.

Reuters, citing people familiar with the process, on Tuesday
said Lawson had hired Barclays in recent weeks and that its
review of strategic alternatives is in the early stages and
could include other options.

The sources said possible bidders might include Infor, owned
by Golden Gate Capital, Hewlett-Packard Co ,
International Business Machines Corp , Microsoft Corp
, Oracle Corp and SAP .

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn owns about one-tenth of
Lawson, which is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Ed Lane)