Sage misses out on MYOB buy

The Australian accounting software firm MYOB has been sold to the private equity firm Bain Capital, although the UK firm Sage had reportedly also been in negotiations to buy MYOB.

On Sunday, MYOB chief executive Tim Reed announced the takeover in a blog post. The company had been owned by another private equity firm, Archer Capital, and other shareholders. US-based Bain picked it up for $1.3bn (£790m), according to reports.

"Bain Capital has an excellent reputation as a firm that invests in high-quality, client-oriented, growth businesses," Reed said in a statement. "They are investors in a company very much like MYOB in Italy called Team Systems. As we continue to release our connected business solutions, I believe that Bain’s experience in owning and guiding businesses like MYOB will assist us to deliver successful solutions to our clients."

According to The Financial Times, the Newcastle-based enterprise software firm Sage had bid $1.4bn for MYOB, but pulled out after recent stock market turmoil, which cut Sage's own share price to the extent that the MYOB bid would have represented more than a quarter of Sage's market value.

That would have meant Sage would have had to seek shareholder approval, which it was not clear would have been forthcoming, to make the purchase.