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.
The sources asked not to be identified because the sale process is confidential. CVC and Elliott declined to comment, while MSC and Symphony did not respond to requests for comment.
Industrial software companies have been in high demand of late. Siemens AG, for example, agreed to acquire Mentor Graphics Corp, a provider of software for designing semiconductors, for $4.5 billion in November.
Based in Newport Beach, California, MSC makes simulation software for manufacturers, including products that help car companies test for crash impact, according to its website.
Although demand for MSC’s simulation and analysis software is expected to grow at strong rates, the company has struggled to offset revenue declines from some of its maturing businesses, credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service Inc said in a research note last year.
Jesse Cohn, the senior portfolio manager who runs Elliott’s activism business, sits on MSC Software’s board, and has since built out a dedicated private equity arm for the $29 billion hedge fund called Evergreen Coast Capital.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty in New York; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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If you live in the New York area and are even remotely interested in a Nintendo Switch console , you might want to head down to the Nintendo Store for a chance to pre-order the company’s latest console.
That’s right, the Nintendo Store in New York will start pre-orders of the upcoming console starting Friday. While there currently aren’t too many details, the Nintendo Store Twitter account only offered that it would be taking pre-orders for the Switch console, and will start on January 13 at 9 am. Since Nintendo has not yet held its event that will reveal more details about the console , the price is currently unknown. But, if a leak is to be believed from late last year, the console could arrive somewhere under $300 USD.
As mentioned in the tweet, Nintendo will have a limited amount of pre-orders, so if you are looking to secure one, you might want to get to the store early. Naturally, there will probably more retailers offering pre-orders once Nintendo has finished its presentation. But the New York store has been known to be a fairly reliable source when it comes to products that are in high demand.
Source: Nintendo (Twitter) via CNET

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Although it isn’t a direct image of the device, an accessory can often give us hints at what might be coming next. As you can see from the image above, the S8 could end up looking more like the Galaxy Note7 as the case offers a more boxy silhouette compared to what’s currently found on the Galaxy S-line of devices. Perhaps one of the most important takeaways from the image is the 3.5mm headphone jack that can be spotted on the bottom. There have been rumors over the past couple months that the new S8 would discard this port , but if this case is accurate, it could mean that Samsung will keep the port for now.
The case also provides access to the standard array of buttons like volume rocker and power, which can be seen on the right edge, while there is a cutout on the top for what might be a SIM slot / microSD expansion slot. It’s a bit tough to tell what kind of charging / data port this device might use from the case, but since the Note7 offered USB Type-C, hopefully, the S8 will follow suit. Naturally, this could be a preliminary case that was modeled on a prototype or a complete hoax, so things could look very different from what we are seeing above.
Source: Slashleaks

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Last week at CES , hundreds of companies unveiled new products that would eventually trickle their way to consumers over the course of the year. It can sometimes be overwhelming when roaming the halls, trying to check out every new piece of tech, but if looking closely, sometimes you’ll find unreleased and unannounced products that are right out in the open.
According to Total Tech Media, two high-end unannounced Nokia handsets were on display in plain site at CES 2017. Speaking to the rep that was on hand at the booth, the handset has a code-name of ‚Supreme‘ and could come to market as the ‚Nokia 8‘. Although the handsets share a similar design, one will feature a Snapdragon 835 processor , while the other will offer a Snapdragon 821. Both will have a 24MP camera with EIS, dual front-facing speakers, and a QHD AMOLED display. While it wasn’t disclosed where it was found, judging from the image and video, it appears to be at the Qualcomm booth located across from HiSense.
Nokia recently announced the ‚Nokia 6‘ , a mid-range handset and has stated that they have plans to show off more in the coming year. Nokia is expected to announce something at Mobile World Congress which is held in the last week of February in Barcelona.
Source and image: Total Tech 1 , 2

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Earlier this week, Microsoft released Windows 10 for PCs Insider Preview build 15002 to the Fast ring. The new build contains a massive amount of new features; for example, users can now pause updates for up to 35 days.
There are tons of new settings, such as an option to reduce blue light, which should help the user to fall asleep after using their PC all night. Also found under display settings is an option to adjust screen resolution, which is a result of phasing out the Control Panel.
As usual, there are a number of Edge and Cortana improvements. You can now see tab previews by clicking an icon to the right of them, and to the left is an icon to hide those tabs. Cortana has more settings for scheduling reminders, adding the ability to set up an alert as monthly or yearly.
And that’s just scratching the surface. This is our hands-on video, and it’s over 20 minutes long because there is just so much to talk about.
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