Fortive said to have bid $60 a share for National Instruments - report
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Fortive Corp. (NYSE:FTV) also bid $60 a share for National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI), the same price that Emerson (NYSE:EMR) agreed to pay in its takeout.
Fortive (FTV) is a smaller company with an smaller balance sheet than Emerson (EMR) and a deal would have required Fortive to take on a lot of debt and may have gotten the company to a leverage ratio as much as 4.6x, according to CNBC's David Faber, who cited people familiar.
A deal with Emerson (EMR) rather than Fortive (FTV) was likely more palatable to National Instruments (NATI) as it may be less risky, especially with the current financing markets, according to Faber.
Earlier Wednesday Emerson (EMR) confirmed it agreed to buy National Instruments (NATI) for $8.25 billion or $60 a share.
National Instruments (NATI) rose 9.6% on Wednesday, while Emerson (EMR) fell 1.7% and Fortive (FTV) rose 3%. Keysight Technologies (KEYS) gained 2%.
A deal comes after Emerson (EMR) was competing with Fortive (FTV) and Keysight Technologies (KEYS) for National Instruments (NATI), according to media reports. Keysight may have had issues with its bid due to potential antitrust issues.