(Bloomberg) -- SoftwareOne Holding AG is nearing a deal to acquire Norwegian rival Crayon Group Holding A/S in a move that would create a major pan-European software reseller, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Swiss firm is putting the final touches on a bid to take Crayon Group private and could announce the planned combination as early as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. SoftwareOne plans to pay mostly or entirely in stock, according to the people.
Shares of Crayon rose 8.4% and touched the highest level since August 2022 in Oslo trading on Thursday, valuing the company at about $1.1 billion. SoftwareOne slumped as much as 17% to hit a record low in Zurich, giving it a market capitalization of about 970 million Swiss francs ($1.1 billion).
SoftwareOne, which has been considering a sale of itself, has also been exploring a potential combination with Crayon, Bloomberg News reported in September. Buyout firm Apax Partners and SoftwareOne’s key shareholders have been discussing various structures that would allow them to combine SoftwareOne and Crayon, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.
The merged entity could still eventually be taken private by a private equity firm at a later date, some of the people said. Deliberations are at an advanced stage but could still be delayed or fall apart, the people said.
A spokesperson for SoftwareOne declined to comment, while a representative for Crayon didn’t immediately respond to queries.
Based in Stans, Switzerland, SoftwareOne is among the largest resellers of Microsoft Corp. software licenses and has annual revenues of about 1 billion francs. The Swiss company has been in the crosshairs of private equity suitors for most of the year, with its previous board rejecting a 3 billion-franc offer from Bain Capital in January.
SoftwareOne’s founding shareholders replaced the board in April. Raphael Erb, SoftwareOne’s new chief executive officer, in October warned of continued headwinds from changes at Microsoft, including a net reduction in certain vendor incentives.
Oslo-based Crayon is expected to record revenues of around 7.2 billion kroner ($648 million) this year, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg. The firm, predominantly active in the Nordic region, also distributes licenses for the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google Cloud.
(Updates share reaction in third paragraph.)
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