Jan 12 (Reuters) – Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire MSC Software Corp, a U. S. company that makes simulation computer programs, for more than $800 million, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
A successful deal would vindicate the buyout strategy of activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, which pushed MSC to explore a sale in 2008, and then partnered with private equity firm Symphony Technology Group one year later to take it private for $360 million. Elliott had become MSC’s largest shareholder, and so it rolled its 13.4 percent stake into that deal.
CVC has so far prevailed over other private equity firms in an auction for MSC, and could finalize an agreement as early as this month, the sources said this week, cautioning that the outcome could still change and negotiations could end without a deal.
