Micro Focus shareholders approve £7bn HP takeover

MICRO FOCUS shareholders have approved the takeover of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business, a deal that will create Britain’s largest technology company.

The company won 99.9pc approval for the deal at a shareholder meeting yesterday, which was the final hurdle to the transaction.

Once the $8.8bn (£6.9bn) reverse takeover is completed on Sept 1, Micro Focus will be worth almost twice as much as Sage, currently Britain’s largest listed tech company with a market capitalisation of £7.7bn.

As part of the deal, announced in a surprise move last September, the Newbury-based company will take on the remaining assets of Autonomy, the British software company HP bought in 2011. The US group’s $11.1bn acquisition is widely regarded as one of the worst technology deals on record. Since then, HP has split its software and server business from its struggling hardware division.

Shares in Micro Focus, whose software supports legacy software for banks and retailers, closed up 8p at £24.18 yesterday.