By Lauren Thomas
Shares of Aspen Technology fell Monday after Emerson Electric said its offer price of $265 per share is its best and final.
This came after activist investor Elliott Management said last week that it had built a big stake in AspenTech and opposed the company's decision to accept Emerson's offer, arguing the price was too low.
Emerson, which already owns more than half of AspenTech, struck a deal last month to acquire the remaining shares in the software supplier at a $7.2 billion valuation for the stake.
Analysts are split over what should happen next. Loop Capital issued a note on Monday bumping its price target of AspenTech to $315. Analysts at UBS, however, said they see a break price on the deal of $202, meaning the stock could drop to that point if the transaction fell through. "Emerson would not want to risk tender failure," the UBS analysts said. Analysts at BNP Paribas said Emerson's offer is "rather rich" already.
Shares of AspenTech were trading down about 3% Monday at $266.77 apiece.
Emerson, a big player in automation technology, said in a statement Monday that it has "significantly greater knowledge" of AspenTech and its outlook than a "short-term shareholder" that built stock in the company for what it views as merger arbitrage.
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February 10, 2025 15:17 ET (20:17 GMT)
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