Chesterfield software firm set for multi-billion pound merger

Aveva, the FTSE engineering software firm that has a base in Chesterfield, is set to merge with France’s Schneider Electric in a deal worth around £3bn.

The two firms have announced the merger this morning that will create one of the biggest UK listed software companies with combined revenues of £657.5m.

Aveva makes specialist software for the oil and gas industries. Reports suggest that the firm’s shareholders will receive 858p per share in cash as part of the deal, with Schneider Electronic taking a majority stake. Schneider will also pay £100m to Aveva upon completion of the deal and own 60% of the combined company.

Insiders have suggested that Aveva’s head office in Cambridge will be retained, but there is no news of the firm’s other UK bases in London, Aberdeen, Manchester or Shipley.

Aveva was formed in 1967 as a spin-out from Cambridge University.

The deal has twice been abandoned with previous attempts in 2015 and last year coming to nothing. The new deal will complete around the end of the year, a statement read this morning (5 September).