Super-quick: Schneider Electric may buy the rest of AVEVA

Morning news troll. AVEVA shares up 30% — why? A tiny bit of surfing tells me that Schneider Electric says it is considering a possible offer to acquire the 41% of outstanding shares in AVEVA that it does not already own. Note: considering, possible … not by any means a done deal. According to the linked article, Schneider Electric has until September 21 to “either make an offer or walk away under U.K. Takeover Panel rules … Schneider said that regardless of whether an offer is made, it remains committed to Aveva, to its “agnostic and autonomous business model” and to its employees.”

I have no idea if this is true, but some media reports give the deal an $8 billion potential value, which would be nearly 5x revenues.

We’ve always known that this was a possibility — and, if I remember, exactly how and when Schneider Electric could exercise options to buy more shares was a major sticking point in the negotiations that eventually led to the merger years ago.

Seems this saga isn’t done yet.