Nordic software house TietoEnator has offered an improved £56 million all-cash bid for UK financial technology house AttentiV, trumping a rival £53.1 million counter-offer from Microgen.
TietoEnator says it has received undertakings from 37.9% of AttentiV sharheolders for its new offer of 85.5 pence per share. This represents a substantial premium on TientoEnator's original 71 pence per share bid, first launched in early April and for which the firm claims 24.7% acceptance.
The AttentiV board issued a statement mid-afternoon withdrawing its recommendation from the Microgen offer in favour of the increased TietoEnator offer.
Shares in AttentiV have moved up 7.8% to 82.5 pence, while Microgen shares remain unchanged at 77.5 pence.
Update Microgen announced that it was pulling out of the bidding in a brief statement released to the Stock Exchange Thursday am: "The Board has concluded that it is not in Microgen shareholders' interest to increase the value of its proposed offer for AttentiV."