Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Phoenix Technology Bidding War Rises To $152M

The bidding war for Milpitas-based Phoenix Technologies Ltd. has driven the latest price for the firm up to approximately $152M, or $4.20 per share in cash, as Gores Group upped an earlier offer from Marlin Equity Partners made on Friday. According to Phoenix Technologies, it received a definitive offer from the Gores Group of $4.20 per share in cash for the firm, which trumps an earlier bid of $146M received in October from Marlin Equity Partners. Phoenix said that Marlin has three business days to match the proposal from Gores Group. Phoenix Technologies is a maker of BIOS software for PCs, as well as other related firmware. The deal originally was worth $139M, when Marlin first entered into a deal to acquire Phoenix in August.