Sandvine Gets Bigger Bid

Bandwidth management technology specialist Sandvine Corp. said it has received an acquisition offer that is superior to the one received in May.

Sandvine, the Canadian company known for its Global Internet Phenomena studies based on data collected from its ISP partners, said Tuesday that Francisco Partners  has offered a cash deal of C$4.15 per share.

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That beat an offer of C$3.80 per share from Vector Capital affiliate Scalar AcquireCo Corp. announced on May 26 that implied a value of C$483 million. At the time, the Vector proposal represented a 20% premium to Sandvine’s closing share price of C$3.16 on May 25. Sandvine then had a 42-day “go-shop” period to actively solicit superior proposals.

Sandvine said it has notified Vector that it views the new offer as superior and that Vector has five business days to match it. The Vector matching period ends July 6 at 5:00 p.m. Toronto time.

However, Sandvine said its board “has not changed its recommendation regarding the Vector Agreement and continues to recommend the offer under the Vector Agreement.”

Bloomberg reported last month that Francisco Partners was weighing a bid and looking to combine Sandvine with its ownership of Procera Networks, another company that specializes in network intelligence data.

Sandvine's shares rose 37 cents (8.95%) to C$4.26 each Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.