Quest Software said last Thursday that it got an acquisition offer worth about $2.15 billion from an unidentified “strategic bidder.”
Reuters claims the unidentified mystery bidder is Dell after talks to buy Quest broke down earlier.
The $25.50-a-share cash offer bests the $23 a share Quest accepted back in March from private equity house Insight Venture Partners. Insight has to sweeten its offer or let it go for a break-up fee of either $4.2 million or $6.3 million.
Wall Street punters pushed the stock up ~10% betting it could go for better than $26 a share. JP Morgan has said the company is worth $28 a share or around $2.36 billion.
Quest reportedly got several offers during the 60-day “go-shop” arrangement it struck with Insight to see if it could fetch a better price.