Vista to buy SumTotal after all

In what appears to be the end of a bizarre auction process, Vista Equity Partners has triumphed, outbidding Accel-KKR for SumTotal Systems. The price ended up at $160 million or $4.85 per share, a respectable increase from Vista's original $3.25 per share offer. Accel-KKR can hardly be described as a loser though, after somehow convincing SumTotal's nitwit board of directors to double the break-up fee in their last bid to $6.67 million. I can imagine the Accel-KKR directors holding up the cheque saying, "Well lads, looks like we lost! The beer's on me!"