Misys to sell majority of Allscripts holding, return proceeds to shareholders

Applications software and services company Misys PLC (LON:MSY) said it has agreed to sell the majority of its 54.6 percent interest in its Allscripts subsidiary (NASDAQ:MDRX), and plans to return substantially all of the proceeds to Misys shareholders.
The sale of shares by Misys will provide Allscripts the flexibility to proceed on its proposed merger with Eclipsys (NASDAQ:ECLP).
Based on illustrative placing and buyback assumptions, the sale of approximately 68 million of its Allscripts shares would raise over US$1.3 billion, £0.9 billion, and would leave a remaining Misys holding of approximately 12 million Allscripts shares.

Allscripts will merge with Eclipsys, to create a larger healthcare information technology group, and the merger is expected to be be accretive to earnings per share in calendar 2011. Eclipsys shareholders will receive US$1.3 billion in Allscripts shares, representing 1.2 Allscripts shares for each share of Eclipsys that they own. Misys expects to retain a maximum of 10 peercent of Allscripts-Eclipsys shares, following the merger of the two companies.
The proceeds from the sale of Allscripts shares, after transaction fees and debt paydown, will be returned to Misys shareholders in due course, intended to be through a proposed tender offer for their shares.
Misys chief executive Mike Lawrie commented:  “Misys shareholders will receive an unprecedented return of capital from the company, over US$1 billion, and will see immediate, significant earnings per share accretion.  Following separation, we will continue to focus on leadership in our financial services markets, through taking to market innovative software solutions, notably our BankFusion suite, and providing high quality implementation and customer services.”