Might the software ranks of the UK's blue-chip index be about to double? It's a long shot, granted, but there appears to be an increasingly likelihood that former UK midcap banking software supplier Misys could be set for a return to the stock market more than four years after it fell into the hands of private equity firm Vista in a rough $1.3 billion deal.
The mooted $5 billion (£3.75 billion) price tag could see it catapulted straight into the FTSE 100, joining accounting software supplier Sage (SGE), currently Britain's sole software blue-chip and, once the ARM (ARM)/Softbank deal goes through, soon to be the UK's only tech in the Footsie.
'No recent financials are publicly available but we estimate revenues of around $950 million,' calculate analysts at IT analysis consultancy Megabuyte. 'Run-rate revenues for Misys at the time of the Vista transaction were about $600 million, which was then augmented by acquisitions,' most notably the old Kondor business since renamed Turaz.
This would be a huge boon to the UK's tech space which has been hemorrhaging technology companies for the past couple of years, waving goodbye to Advanced Computer Software, Anite, Xchanging, Telecity, Daisy, plus chip design firms CSR, Wolfson Microelectronics, and now ARM.
Gossip of a Misys stock market return has reared its head several times over the past couple of years but there seems to be real meat on the bones of the rumours now. A London IPO would be most logical given Misys' given its European centre of gravity, although a trade or separate private equity buyer could still emerge.
But 'an IPO would seem to be the best option,' believes Megabuye's Ian Spence. 'Such a large IPO, coming on the back of that of Sophos (SOPH) last year, would be another welcome shot in the arm for the UK quoted tech sector.'
