By Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Misys PLC (MSY.LN) Monday confirmed it had received a rival approach from U.S. buyout firm Vista Equity Partners, just two weeks after the financial software company said it was in merger talks with Swiss peer Temenos Group AG (TEMN.EB). "Misys confirms that it has received an approach from Vista Equity Partners consisting of a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire the entire outstanding share capital of Misys for cash that may or may not lead to an offer being made," the company said. Misys was responding to a news report that Vista had offered GBP1.2 billion for the company, considerably less than the GBP1.4 billion reportedly offered by U.S. rival Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF) last summer, and arguably less attractive to the all-share offer from Temenos. Vista Equity Partners has until close of business March 19 to make a firm offer or walk away. Financial information businesses have been heavily targeted over the past year or so as buyout firms look to deploy large hordes of cash investing in cash-generative assets and trade buyers seek growth through scale. Just months ago, Vista Equity Partners won a hotly fought auction for Thomson Reuters Corp.'s (TRI) Kondor unit, while earlier in 2011, Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus bought Interactive Data Corp. (IDC) from Pearson PLC (PSO) is a deal worth $3.4 billion. At 1312 GMT, Misys shares were up 28 pence, or 9%, at 337 pence, giving it a market value of GBP1.12 billion. - By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
