Permira is planning to take Mimecast private in an all-cash acquisition
The shares of Mimecast Ltd (NASDAQ:MIME) are up 6.7% at $80.05 this morning, following news that private equity firm Permira will acquire the e-mail security company in a $5.8 billion all-cash deal. Mimecast will be delisted and become a privately held company by the completion of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2022, and shareholders will receive $80 in cash per share owned.
This news has helped the equity stage a bounce off its 80-day moving average, which it was plummeting towards in a selloff that's lasted since late November. The trendline has provided support since May, capturing another pullback earlier in the fourth quarter. Year-to-date, MIME is up over 31%.
Despite the recent pullback, short sellers have been hitting the exits. Short interest dropped 36.9% in the last two reporting periods, and now represents just 2.7% of the stock's available float.
Options traders have been a bit more bullish than usual too. This is per MIME's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.18, which stands higher than only 13% of annual readings. This implies short-term options traders have rarely been more call-biased.