(Bloomberg) -- HashiCorp Inc., a provider of software that helps companies operate in the cloud, rose as much as 12% Monday on the news that the company has been considering options including a sale. 

The San Francisco-based company has been working with a financial adviser in recent months to gauge interest from potential buyers, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. HashiCorp has already held exploratory talks with other industry players, according people familiar with the matter, who asked to not be identified because the details are private. 

HashiCorp rose 8.3% to $28.71 at 10:21 a.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $5.7 billion. The stock has fallen about 2.2% in the past year. 

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they’ll result in any transaction, the people said. A representative for HashiCorp didn’t respond to requests for comment.

HashiCorp’s software helps companies in a range of industries set up their digital infrastructure in the cloud, which can lower costs and speed up the time it takes them to bring products to market.

The company could fetch $32 to $40 per share and appeal to potential buyers including Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle Corp. or International Business Machines Corp., analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. said in a research note Monday. 

“We think the company is an attractive asset for both financial and strategic buyers,” they said. 

The talks come amid a spike in software dealmaking, as companies seek to add scale and diversity through acquisitions. Cisco closed its $28 billion deal for Splunk Inc. on Monday.

(Updates with analyst comments in last two paragraphs)

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