The disclosure of a $3bn unsolicited takeover bid for Diebold by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) sent shares in the ATM manufacturer soaring last week and made the vendor one of the few firms to post gains in the Finextra50 index.
Diebold was by far the best performer in the Finextra50 last week, with its stock rising a hefty 55.51% to close the week at $37.51.
Diversified group UTC went public with its $40-per-share bid approach for Diebold last Monday after being rebuffed by the ATM vendor. Diebold later said its board of directors had "unanimously rejected" the offer, which it said "significantly undervalues the company and fails to reflect Diebold's strengths and significant upside potential". But disclosure of the bid was enough to send its stock soaring.
However the ATM vendor was one of just nine companies in the Finextra50 index that posted gains during a week when 40 other companies saw their share price fall, which resulted in the index falling to 84.48 at close of business on Friday, down from 86.04 a week earlier.
The few other risers on the index posted more modest gains than Diebold. Shares in ACI Worldwide continued to rise and closed the week 11.16% at $19.63, while Australia's Bravura Solutions saw its stock rise 10.81% to A$1.64. Chordiant Software also rallied to finish up 5.36% at $6.09 on Friday following a 13.21% dive the previous week. Shares in UK banking and asset management software firm Microgen also rose and finished Friday up 8.89% to 49 pence.
Indian companies were among those hit hardest last week - as shown by the negative movement of Indian stock indexes such as The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Senex index which was closed the week down nine per cent.
Indian outfit Firstsource took the hardest battering, with its stock plummeting 23.78% to close at Rs38.95 on Friday. Shares in Indian vendor 3i Infotech also fell sharply - down 12.16% to Rs112.00, while Nucleus Software saw gains made the previous week wiped out as its stock fell 10.18% to Rs254.20 at close on Friday.
Outside of India shares in US-based Actuate, which supplies business intelligence and compliance software, fell 11.67% to $4.24. The California firm has seen its share price nearly halved in recent months following the credit crunch and amid concerns that the company will be hit hard if banks cut bank on technology spending.
UK-based Gresham Computing was also amongst the 40 firms on the index that posted share price fall last week. The UK financial software outfit saw its shares slide 11.48% to close the week at 54 pence.
Index comparison
MethodologyMore information on the Finextra50 Financial Technology Index methodology and constituent stocks can be found
here.