OLAP software house Arbor Software Corp says it plans to raise up to $75m in a private offering of convertible subordinated notes to institutional investors in the US. The notes would have a term of seven years and would be convertible into Arbor common stock. No other terms were disclosed. Arbor says it wants the funds for general corporate purposes and for possible acquisitions, although it currently has no agreements or commitments with respect to any acquisitions or major investments. It wouldn’t be specific about who it may be looking at. Speculation has been rife over the past six months that Arbor is itself a likely candidate for a takeover by IBM Corp, with whom it has development and marketing ties.
