France’s Schneider nearing deal to buy remaining Aveva shares for $4.1 billion -Sky News

(Reuters) -French industrial group Schneider Electric is nearing a deal to take full control of British software company Aveva Group Plc for about 3.5 billion pounds ($4.1 billion), Sky News reported on Monday.

The boards of both companies are discussing a price of more than 30 pounds a share for Schneider to acquire the roughly 40% of Aveva it doesn’t already own, valuing the British company at about 9 billion pounds, the report said. (https://bit.ly/3Bz3BOt)

Aveva’s stock closed at 2,959 pence on Monday, giving the company a total valuation of about 8.93 billion pounds, Reuters calculations based on Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Last month, the French industrial conglomerate said it was considering buying out minority shareholders in the software company.

Schneider already owns nearly 60% of Aveva. It took majority control of Aveva in 2017 in its third attempt since 2015 in a reverse takeover that enabled the British company to retain its London listing. The French group paid 3 billion pounds at that time.

Aveva’s products are used to design and manage oil rigs, ships and chemical plants, while the French multinational spans electrical components, energy management and industrial automation systems.

Aveva and Schneider declined to comment on the Sky News report.

($1 = 0.8549 pounds)

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)