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Talks with interested funds are ongoing, one of the people said.
Four sources mentioned Bain and CVC and two of them also named
Apax.
SoftwareOne's board was ousted in April after it rejected a 2.9
billion Swiss franc ($3.27 billion) takeover offer by Bain.
Apax, Bain and CVC declined to comment. A spokesperson for
SoftwareOne declined to comment and referred to a statement
issued in May, when the company said it had been approached by
several bidders.
Shares in SoftwareOne rose as much as 2.6% early on Thursday
versus a 0.6% fall in the European tech index.
In May, at the time of its first quarter 2024 trading update,
the company said the board had been approached by several
parties regarding a potential going-private transaction but
didn't provide names.
Jefferies is advising the board on the matter, a fifth person
with knowledge of the matter said. All five people were speaking
on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
Jefferies did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, founding shareholders Daniel von Stockar,
Rene Gilli and B. Curti Holding, who own nearly a third of
SoftwareOne stock, won a vote to oust most of the existing board
after it had resisted a sale to Bain.
Analysts and investors believed the move would once again make
the company a likely takeover target.
SoftwareOne rejected multiple offers from Bain over the course
of last year, saying they provided neither sufficient certainty,
nor reflected the value of the company.
SoftwareOne has more than 9000 employees and assists companies
to buy and manage software from other providers such as
Microsoft (MSFT.O), SAP (SAPG.DE), and Adobe (ADBE.O).
($1 = 0.8855 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London and Oliver Hirt in
Zurich. Writing by Anousha Sakoui; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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