The money in play for Quest Software jumped from $2.17 billion to $2.32 billion Monday morning.
The mystery bidder, believed to be Dell, that looked trumped a few days ago is back in the game after topping the $25.75-a-share offer made by Insight Venture Partners and Vector Capital, two private equity outfits, with a bid of $27.50 a share cash, a sharp increase.
The sum approaches the $28 a share or $2.36 billion JPMorgan claimed the company was worth weeks ago. Insight on its own started with $23 a share in March and had to call in reinforcements last week to go to $25.75.
The unnamed strategic bidder is going to have to pay a $25 million termination fee to make the Insight-Vector alliance go away. Insight-Vector could also re-up but they’re already working on borrowed capital. There’s no financing in the mystery bid. The Insight-Vector combine has three business days to decide whether to match or improve on the “Dell” bid. Wall Street seems to think the deal could get a mite sweeter. Quest’s stock opened at $27.74 then lost a little ground.