Corel, the Canadian company that acquired the once great WordPerfect and Quattro Pro from Novell intending to take on Microsoft, is going private again.
Vector Capital, the private equity house that owns over 68% of the company is offering $4 a share cash, nearly a 28% premium, for the rest of it, having upped the offer from $3.50 to get management's backing.
The tender offer expires at midnight November 25.
Vector said last month that Corel "faces substantial operational challenges and a near-term imperative to resolve covenant compliance issues under its credit facility."
This will be the second time Vector has taken Corel private. It acquired the basis of its position in Corel from Microsoft in 2003 after Microsoft ironically saved Corel from one of its habitually precarious positions.
Corel also sells WinZip and CorelDraw. It sold off its desktop Linux operating system years ago