Dec 2 (Reuters) - Australia's Bigtincan Holdings Ltd
said on Friday it had received a buyout bid from
private equity adviser SQN Investors, valuing the software firm
at A$441.9 million ($300.62 million).
Shares of Bigtincan surged as much as 14.7% to their highest
in more than three months after the A$0.80 per-share offer,
which represents a 17.6% premium to the stock's last close on
Thursday.
If the deal goes through, Bigtincan will join a handful of
Australian software firms that have agreed to be bought out by
private equity firms in recent months.
However, Bigtincan has urged its shareholders not to take
any action for now as it has been in preliminary talks with
other interested parties related to a potential buyout deal.
SQN Investors, which hold a 13.6% stake in the artificial
intelligence-powered software provider, intends to fund the
acquisition via a combination of equity and a potential debt
financing, according to Bigtincan.
($1 = 1.4699 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber and Subhranshu Sahu)