Icahn Investment Lawson Software Gets Golden Gate, Infor Takeover Offer

Lawson Software Inc. (LWSN), a maker of business software which counts Carl Icahn among its largest investors, received an unsolicited $11.25 per share cash buyout offer from Infor and Golden Gate Capital, it said in a statement.

“The parties are engaged in discussions regarding this proposal; however, there can be no assurance that any agreement will be reached,” St Paul, Minnesota-based Lawson said in the statement, sent via Business Wire. Lawson hired Barclays Capital Inc. to advise it on the proposal, it said.

Lawson, which provides software for health-care, food and retail companies, surged 15 percent last week in Nasdaq Stock Market trading to close at $11.55 yesterday, the highest in nine years. A deal at $11.25 per share would value the company at $1.84 billion according to Bloomberg calculations based on the number of shares outstanding.

Infor and Golden Gate’s offer is a 19 percent premium to Lawson’s $9.46 average closing price over the past 90 days, according to Bloomberg calculations. The average premium for completed software acquisitions in the past three years is 30.3 percent, Bloomberg data on deals over $1 billion show.

Golden Gate Capital, based in San Francisco, is a private equity company with $9 billion in capital under management, according to its website. Its investments have included software maker Infor, restaurant chain Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and network-marketing company Herbalife, according to the website.

Icahn, 74, increased his holdings in Lawson by 7 percent between Oct. 1 and Jan. 25 to 17.8 million shares at prices between $8.16 and $9.18, according to Bloomberg calculations based on insider transactions posted on the company’s investor relations website.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeran Wittenstein at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net.