May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital Partners LP agreed to buy Acxiom Corp., a provider of computer and database services, for about $2.24 billion.

The buyout firms will pay $27.10 in cash for each share, 14 percent more than yesterday's closing price, Acxiom said in a statement. The buyers will assume about $756 million in debt.

The agreement marks the third-biggest technology purchase for private-equity companies this year and caps a two-year effort by ValueAct's Jeff Ubben to buy the company. Acxiom shares rose above the offer price in trading today, a sign investors may expect a higher bid. The Little Rock, Arkansas-based company said it can solicit other offers for 60 days.

``I'm loath to part with the asset at this price,'' said Dana Walker, a portfolio manager at Kalmar Investments who helps oversee $2.6 billion. The stock may be valued at ``a number well into the 30s if not upwards of 40'' in the next 18 to 24 months.

Ubben joined Acxiom's board in 2006 after a proxy fight he began when the company rejected two takeover offers by ValueAct the previous year. The firm is Acxiom's largest shareholder, with 13 percent of the stock as of March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

``Becoming a private company is going to provide the flexibility to focus on long-term growth and not so much on short-term success,'' Acxiom Chief Executive Officer Charles Morgan said on a conference call.

Options Trading Surges

Trading in options to buy shares of Acxiom climbed in the week before yesterday's announcement. The number of call options traded in Acxiom jumped to 1,400 on May 10, the most in a single day since October and more than 10 times the average of 135 in the preceding days. More than 1,300 contracts traded on May 14 and each of the next two days. Walker said he noticed the stock gaining momentum in the later part of April.

``You see a stock that was moldering that suddenly has a fair amount of hop to it,'' Walker said. ``In this case, it's pretty evident that somebody knew something.''

Acxiom shares rose $4.03, or 17 percent, to $27.70 at 1:58 p.m. New York time in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Before today, they had dropped 7.7 percent this year.

Founded in 1969, Acxiom provides technology that helps companies make better use of the data they compile on their customers. Sales growth slowed to 4.7 percent last year from 21 percent two years ago. Acxiom says it counts nine of the top 10 telecommunications companies and five of the six biggest cable and satellite firms among its customers.

Sales Gain

The company yesterday posted a 3.8 percent increase in fiscal fourth-quarter sales to $357.3 million. Net income dropped to $6.27 million, or 8 cents a share, in the period ended March 31, from $23.1 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier. Costs to close a business in Spain and pay back debt hurt results.

Acxiom forecast that profit will rise to $1.02 a share this fiscal year from 84 cents.

The purchase is ``all going to be good news for clients and associates because it helps assure a bright position for them and a competitive position for Acxiom,'' Morgan said.

The companies expect the transaction to close in the next three to four months. Stephens Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are advising Acxiom. UBS Securities LLC is advising and providing financing to Silver Lake and ValueAct Capital.

Among private-equity technology deals announced this year, the purchase would trail Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s agreement to buy First Data Corp. and a plan by Cerberus Capital Management LP and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. founder Darwin Deason to buy that company.

Silver Lake, founded in 1999 by Jim Davidson, Glenn Hutchins, David Roux and Roger McNamee, is the largest buyout fund to focus on technology. The company disclosed plans in January to raise as much as $10 billion for a new fund, and has participated in bids for Royal Philips Electronics NV's semiconductor unit and SunGard Data Systems Inc.

Ubben, 45, co-founded ValueAct in 2000 after working at Blum Capital Partners LP, a San Francisco-based investment firm. Ubben stepped in as chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. in 2003 after Stewart was indicted for lying to regulators about a stock sale.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 17, 2007 14:00 EDT