One of the longest-established software and services companies in the UK, ACT Group Plc, is about to give up its independence – and if things go as currently planned, it will end up as part of a smaller and much younger company, Misys Plc of Stratford-on-Avon. ACT, after copious disposals and acquisitions now primarily a financial software company, announced yesterday that it has agreed to be sell out to Misys for 300 pence cash and 2.2 new shares for evey 10 ACT shares. The deal valued ACT at about 120 pence a share, ú212m all told, when it was announced, but Misys shares plunged 49 pence to 360 pence on the news, trimming the value to 109 pence a share, about ú193m. ACT shares surged 30.5 pence to 107 pence, within a whisker of the revised valuation, implying that the market does not expect a counter-bid. ACT shareholders will nevertheless not be too happy, because the shares were trading at 180 pence little more than a year ago. The combination will create a company strongest in banking, financial and insurance software with annual sales currently running at some ú350m, making it the lecond largest quoted British company in its sector after the Anglo-French Sema Group Plc.
