Directors at Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp., a maker of business software, said Monday they rejected a $556 million buyout offer made by New York hedge fund Elliott Associates LP.
Epicor’s board “unanimously determined not to pursue the proposal,” the company said in a statement.
On Oct. 1 Elliott sent an unsolicited letter to Epicor’s board that said it was prepared to pay about $566 million for Epicor, 20% more than what the company’s shares were trading at before the offer.
In response to Elliott’s offer, Epicor’s Chief Executive Tom Kelly said the company is set to focus at this time on the rollout of its newest software suite, dubbed Epicor 9.
“Given the unsettled capital markets and our current product roadmap, we have only one focus at Epicor and that is to deliver value to our shareholders and customers,” Kelly said in the letter.
Epicor makes enterprise resource planning software that helps midsize companies manage accounting, customer contacts, inventory, sales and other tasks. It also makes software for retailers.
Elliott, which runs hedge funds with some $10 billion in assets, is one of Epicor’s biggest shareholders with a little more than a 10% stake.
Shares of Epicor rallied in tandem with the market, which saw a big rebound Monday.
The stock closed up nearly 9% on a recent market value of about $395 million.
For more on Elliott’s offer for Epicor, see the Oct. 13 edition of the Business Journal.
