Shares in Misys have ticked up after City analysts talked up the possibility of a break-up and piecemeal sell-off of the banking-to-healthcare group.
Misys' share price moved up to 206 pence in morning trading after Jeffries' analyst Milan Radia issued a buy-note on the group, upgrading it share price target from 198 pence to 260 pence.
"Our upgraded price target reflects our view that we are now approaching an end game in the transformation of Misys," states the note. "Ultimately, we anticipate a trade sale of each of the three divisions."
Rada speculates that the healthcare division will be the first to go, followed by an auction of the banking, treasury and capital markets assets.
"Temenos has flagged its interest in acquiring these businesses in recent meetings with investors," notes Rada. "However, we believe Temenos would face tough competition in an auction process from larger vendors in the space such as Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle and direct industry peers such as Fiserv and Sungard, the latter two having been bidders for Misys in 2006."
The break-up and sale of the group would address the current sluggishness and implied valuation gap in Misys' share price, says Jeffries: "Placing the financial systems businesses on a 40% discount to their direct industry peer group and taking the current Allscripts valuation, results in animplied fair value price target of 260p (32% upside)."