Australian-born printed circuit board (PCB) design software company Altium has revealed it has rejected a planned takeover proposal from Autodesk.
In an ASX announcement, Altium said the proposal evolved from initial discussions for a potential strategic partnership, with Autodesk offering to buy the company for $38.50 per share.
“The Altium board appreciates the interest expressed by Autodesk, which has evolved from a dialogue about a strategic partnership. However, it considers that the proposal significantly
undervalues Altium’s prospects and therefore rejects the proposal at the current price,” the announcement read.
“Altium has a unique position in the electronics ecosystem and in the past unsolicited acquisition interest has developed from partnership dialogues with others in the ecosystem.”
Altium said it had previously dealt with unsolicited acquisition interest the same way, and that it would engage with interested parties “in the context of an appropriate valuation” of Altium.
The company added that part of the reason for rejecting Autodesk’s offer was that it believed it is on track to achieve its “transformative” strategy for the electronics industry and achieve its 2025 financial goals after moving to cloud-based technology.
“Having successfully pivoted to the cloud, Altium is now well positioned to pursue market dominance and industry transformation,” the announcement read.
“The adoption of Altium’s cloud platform is transforming Altium’s business model from maintenance-based subscription to capability-based SaaS subscription.”Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.