Aveva share price rises as firm gives up control to French firm Schneider Electric
British engineering design firm Aveva has sold a majority stake to French rival Schneider Electric in a complex £1.3bn reverse takeover deal.
The FTSE 250 firm, which offers software to engineers to design projects like oil rigs and nuclear power plants, will be 53.5 per cent owned by the French firm under the plan’s terms.
The deal brings together two of the world’s biggest industrial software firms, creating a firm with revenues of over £530m.
“The transaction will be transformational to Aveva, creating a global leader in industrial software, which will be able to better compete on a global scale,” Aveva boss Richard Longdon said.
Under the terms of the deal, Aveva will issue 74m new shares to Schneider giving it 53.5 per cent. Aveva will own 46.5 per cent.
In return for the shares, Aveva will get £550m and Schneider’s software business, which Schneider will spin out of its core company.
It gives Aveva access to Schneider’s design software while offering Schneider access to Aveva’s strong presence in US markets.
Aveva shares rose as much as 30 per cent in trading yesterday, the biggest jump in nine years.
The deal also brings together Aveva with another stalwart of the British tech design scene, Invensys, which Schneider bought in a 2013 takeover for £3.4bn.
Invensys’ software assets were merged into Schneider’s software division in early 2014, the unit which will now be merged into Aveva.
Lazard was financial adviser to Aveva on the deal while Numis acted as sponsor. Morgan Stanley and Ondra Partners advised Schneider.