By Robb M. Stewart

Dye & Durham Ltd. plans to stick with a strategy of growth through acquisition, backing the recommendation of a special committee set up to review the cloud-based software and technology company in the wake of a takeover approach.

The company Friday said the special committee, which was set up at the end of May, provided a final report to the board that recommended Dye & Durham continue to pursue its existing business strategy under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Matthew Proud. The recommendation was accepted and endorsed by the board, the company said.

Dye & Durham formed a committee of independent directors to consider strategic alternatives for the company after a management-led shareholder group proposed taking the company private at 50.50 Canadian dollars(US$40.28) a share, a roughly 23% premium to Dye & Durham's market value at the time.

The company's shares closed Thursday at C$41.81, down 17% since the end of last year.

The committed was mandated with reviewing and assessing the company's current strategy and possible alternatives, including the management proposal and other strategic alternatives including a sale of Dye & Durham to other parties or other transactions.

While the review was underway, Dye & Durham continued to make acquisitions. In July, the company bought TM Group (UK) Ltd., a provider of real estate due-diligence services, for roughly C$156 million (US$124.3 million) to beef up its business in the U.K. Earlier that month, it closed its acquisition of GlobalX Information Pty. Ltd. for about C$159 million to expand its platform in Australia serving legal, property and business professionals.

Dye & Durham on Friday said it entered into a new about $1.8 billion committed senior secured credit facility to repay amounts outstanding under its existing term loan facility and finance its continued acquisition strategy.

The company said that to align the interest of its CEO with that of shareholders, its board would grant Mr. Proud about 6.9 million stock options, with a term of five years.

Mr. Proud, who currently holds about 2.3 million options, would effectively hold almost 12% of Dye & Durham's shares if all the options he holds are converted, the company said.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-08-21 0742ET