Amicas Inc. (NSDQ:AMCS) jilted its erstwhile buyer, private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC, in favor of a higher offer from Merge Healthcare Inc. (NSDQ:MRGE) that it initially met with disdain.
Thoma Bravo LLC
Amicas winks at Merge, still talking to Thoma Bravo
Hoping perhaps to squeeze a few extra dollars from one of its two suitors, Amicas Inc. said it’s ready to accept a buyout offer from a rival information technology company but is still willing to talk with a Chicago-based private equity firm about a possible deal.
Boston-based Amicas (NSDQ:AMCS) late last year said it had agreed to be acquired by a private equity firm, Thoma Bravo LLC, for $5.35 a share, or about $217 million. That offer was trumped last week with a $6.05-a-share cash bid from Milwaukee-based Merge Healthcare Inc. (NSDQ:MRGE). Amicas executives initially cast doubt on Merge’s financial ability to pull off a deal, but after reviewing an updated offer over the weekend concluded “the Merge proposal constitutes a superior proposal.”
Amicas, Merge trade words over merger
Amicas Inc. (NSDQ:AMCS) and Merge Healthcare Inc. (NSDQ:MRGE) are fighting a war of words over Merge’s unsolicited offer to buy out the Boston-based imaging data management firm, which hopes instead to consummate a deal it already has with Thoma Bravo LLC.
Yesterday, Amicas called the Merge offer of $6.05 per share, or about $248 million, "risky" and "illusory," despite being a roughly 13 percent premium over the private equity firm’s ofer opf $5.35 per share (about $217 million).
Amicas board: Merge Healthcare’s $6.05-per-share offer “illusory,” “risky”
The board of directors at Amicas Inc. (NSDQ:AMCS) is urging shareholders to reject an unsolicited buyout offer from Merge Healthcare Inc. (NSDQ:MRGE), calling it "illusory" and "risky."
The Boston-based imaging data management provider already has a roughly $217 million deal in place with private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC, which offered last Christmas Eve to pay $5.35 per share for Amicas. The Merge offer — its sixth proposal to buy Amicas — of $6.05 per share would top that, but the Amicas board said in a statement that the offer is "highly conditional" and doubted whether Merge could pull off the deal.
