Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Corel Corp., the maker of WordPerfect and CorelDraw software, said Vector Capital Corp. is withdrawing its buyout offer so Corel can pursue alternatives to increasing shareholder value.

Vector Capital, which owns 69 percent of Corel, proposed to purchase the remaining shares for $11 each in cash, Ottawa-based Corel said today in a statement. Vector's offer was 3 percent higher than Corel's closing price on March 27, a day before the offer was announced. Corel had 24.5 million shares outstanding as of May 2006, valuing the transaction at about $84 million.

Corel has dissolved the special committee it formed to help its board evaluate and respond to Vector's proposal, the statement said. The committee identified strategic alternatives to the buyout. The board will evaluate and supervise, the statement said.

The deal would have allowed Vector to reassume complete ownership of Corel after a public offering in April 2006. The San Francisco-based buyout firm paid $97.6 million in 2003 for the company, which was then delisted from the Nasdaq. Corel returned to public trading after its 2006 stock sale, which raised $104 million.

Corel rose 17 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $9.61 at 4 p.m. New York time in the Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has slumped 10 percent this year.

Corel, founded in 1985 by Michael Cowpland, won fame for its CorelDraw graphics program in the 1990s. In 1996, the company paid $170 million to Novell Inc. for the WordPerfect word- processing software, challenging Microsoft Corp.'s Word. Cowpland stepped down in 2000 after sales dropped.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Riddell in Washington at Kriddell1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 18, 2008 16:13 EDT