Big Data Firm Actian Bids for Pervasive

Big data management firm Actian has made public an unsolicited bid to acquire the outstanding shares of data innovation specialist Pervasive Software for approximately $154m in cash; complaining that Pervasive has declined its 'repeated efforts' to engage in negotiations.

Actian offers a range of data management solutions to enable execs to extract business intelligence from their organizations' big data. It is headquartered in California with offices in New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Melbourne.

The company says the acquisition of Pervasive would represent an excellent strategic fit, which would expand Actian's reach and scale, by adding software which manages, integrates and analyzes data in the cloud or on-premises.

Steve Shine, CEO of Actian says his company has offered Pervasive $8.50 per share in cash, providing Pervasive stockholders with a 'substantial premium' of 30% more than the firm's closing price of $6.55 on August 10.

In a letter to Pervasive's President and CEO John Farr and the firm's Board, Shine wrote: 'As we have discussed on numerous occasions, we at Actian remain convinced that there are compelling strategic and financial merits to combining Actian and Pervasive Software. Given Pervasive's repeated refusal to engage with us regarding our proposal, we are left with no other choice but to make our proposal public, as we believe that Pervasive's stockholders are entitled to know about and evaluate for themselves the merits of our proposal.'

Shine says that Actian would expect to finance the transaction through a combination of cash and debt, and is already in discussions with a number of lenders.

In a statement released by Pervasive, the firm acknowledged receipt of the bid, adding that its Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the proposal and determine the appropriate course of action that it believes is in the best interests of its stockholders.

Web sites: www.actian.com and www.pervasive.com .