Misys is recommending the 350 pence a share offer from Vista, through investment vehicle Magic Bidco, to its shareholders. Investors accounting for around 22% of the shares have already backed the Vista offer.

Vista will merge Misys with Turaz, the rebranded trade and risk management technology business it acquired from Thomson Reuters last month.

The agreement looks to have put paid to any lingering interest from core banking vendor Temenos. Misys and Temenos agreed terms on an all-share merger in early February but with Vista entering the field, the Swiss company withdrew from the race last week.

The other interested parties, CVC Capital Partners and Misys' largest shareholder, ValueAct Capital, are still weighing their options for a joint bid though.

In a statement, the pair say: "CVC and ValueAct continue to consider their options in respect of Misys, including a possible recommended joint cash offer for the Company and urge Misys shareholders to take no action at this time."

Tom Kilroy, acting CEO, Misys, says: "We are also looking forward to combining our core banking solutions and our capital markets solutions with the trading and enterprise risk management solutions from Turaz. The combined company will be the global leader in delivering solutions to the financial services industry and will have over 1,700 customers across the world."

News of the agreement comes on the same day Misys posts its third quarter interim management statement. Revenues are down 12% and order intake 18%, partly, says the vendor, because of uncertainty over the takeover process.

Says Kilroy: "Our third quarter results were impacted predominantly by the cautious approach adopted by customers whilst discussions were taking place about the future ownership of Misys, and also by continued challenging conditions in financial markets. However, we are confident that sales are being delayed rather than cancelled."