A top-10 investor in Aveva plans to reject Schneider Electric’s £9.5bn takeover of the software developer on the grounds that it represents an “opportunistic bid” that undervalues the UK group.
Schneider said on Wednesday that it would pay £31 a share for the 40 per cent of Aveva it did not already own — a 41 per cent premium over the company’s closing share price in August, before the potential offer emerged.
Peter Lampert, a portfolio manager at Canada-based Mawer Investment management, which has C$77bn in assets under management and is one of the top five external shareholders in Aveva, said the offer price did not reflect the long-term potential of the company.