San Francisco-based Vector Capital Group has successfully acquired Canadian software maker Corel Corp., the companies said on Thursday.
This means that Vector Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm, will acquire all the common shares of Corel for U.S. $1.05 a share. Corels securities should cease trading on the Nasdaq by the close of markets today and by the end of the trading day next Tuesday on the TSX.
Derek Burney, the CEO of Corel, said the deal marks the beginning of a new chapter for the company. “We look forward to a successful future for Corel as we devote even greater focus and energy to delivering productive software solutions to our customers and partners worldwide,” he said.
Alex Slusky, the managing partner at Vector Capital, said the deal will benefit Corel and its customers. “We are committed to working with Corels dedicated employees to provide the highest quality software and services to our diverse base of partners and customers worldwide,” he said.
In March, Corel admitted that it was actively trying to find a buyer for its business and that it had signed a non-disclosure and stand-still agreement with Vector Capital that let Vector investigate a takeover bid.
The two companies then said in June that under a Plan of Arrangement, still to be court- and shareholder-approved, Corel shareholders would get $1.05 in cash for each common share held.
This would include “all common shares which may become outstanding on the exercise of options, warrants and other securities exercisable for, convertible into or exchangeable for common shares. Upon the completion of the arrangement, Vector and its affiliates will own all of the out-standing shares of Corel,” the companies said.
The $1.05-a-share price is slightly less than the $1.10 minimum that Corels board in March said it would recommend shareholders accept from Vector Capital. The March deal also forbade Vector from making a formal takeover bid for a price of less than $1.00 a share over the next six months.
On the product front, Corel recently released WordPerfect Office 11, which gives users the ability to publish slideshows, spreadsheets and WordPerfect files to XML; enhance existing file-sharing options; and support the deployment of content to multiple devices.
Last year, both Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Corp. agreed to offer Corels word processing package and spreadsheet application, Quattro Pro 10, with some of their computer lines. Earlier in the year, Sony Corp. also agreed to ship Corels WordPerfect on a range of its PCs, from budget to high-end machines.
