Lawson Software shares hit 5-year high on Reuters sale process scoop

Reuters was alone on March 8 in reporting that business software maker Lawson Software had retained Barclays Capital to explore alternatives including a sale ahead of a possible proxy fight with activist investor Carl Icahn. Three days later, Lawson said it had received a $1.8 billion offer from software company Infor and Golden Gate Capital. Lawson shares surged over 15 percent to a 5-year high following the Reuters exclusive, which said Lawson could also receive takeover interest from tech giants such as Oracle, SAP or IBM. The story, which drew numerous calls from both buy-side and sell-side analysts, was featured in research reports from Oppenheimer & Co, Longbow Research, Cross Research and Sidoti & Co, among others. Longbow raised its price target for Lawson to $12.50 from $11 following the Reuters article. Reuters coverage was also cited by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and others in explaining the leap in Lawson’s share price.