The last minute entrants into the bidding war for UK technology provider Fidessa have been named as financial technology firm Ion Investment Group and the US financial services group SS&C Technologies.
Fidessa had reached an agreement with Swiss banking software firm Temenos in late February for a $1.4bn cash sale which was due to be signed off today by shareholders. However these plans were put on hold when news of the late bids emerged earleir this week.
According to a statement from Fidessa, both of the new bids are at a premium to the Temenos offer with Ion Trading's confirmed as 5% higher, although no figure was given for SS&C's bid.
Fidessa did also qualify the news of the two rival bids stating that there was "no certainty that a formal offer from either will be forthcoming or as to the terms of any such offer" and adding that it will notify shareholders of a revised timetable "in due course".
Ion Investment Group, a holding group for financial technology companies including electronic trading firm Ion Trading, was reported to be a potential bidder for Fidessa at the time of the Temenos offer being made public.
Meanwhile SS&C has built its business on a series of acquisitions including fund administrator GlobeOp and trading software firm Advent. And in Janaury it struck a deal to acquire information processing company DST for $5.4bn.