Shares of Ansys Inc. soared 18% in trading Friday on reports the company is in discussions to be acquired by Synopsys Inc. in a deal that would create a design-software behemoth.
The potential deal would kick off 2024 with a mega-merger, even as the Federal Trade Commission attempts to crack down on such transactions. Talks remain fluid and a third party might still emerge as a possible suitor of Ansys, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which cited people familiar with the situation.
Ansys ANSS, +18.08%, which has a market value of nearly $ 26.3 billion, makes software that helps predict how products in aerospace, healthcare and automotive applications will work in the real world. A deal could be struck early in 2024, according to people familiar with the matter. Ansys reported revenue of $ 2.1 billion in 2022.
Synopsys SNPS, -6.34%, with a market value of $ 85.1 billion, makes software that engineers use to design and test silicon chips used in smartphones, self-driving cars and other forms of artificial intelligence. Its stock has climbed 65% this year as investors have hopped on the AI bandwagon boom. Shares of Synopsys dipped 6% in late trading Friday.
Synopsys’s customers include Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -0.33%, Intel Corp. INTC, +1.95% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -0.22%.
Representatives from Synopsys and Ansys were not immediately available for comment.
Should the companies strike a merger, it would offer a fresh test for the FTC and its chair, Lina Khan, who have opposed large tech mergers and acquisitions. The agency unsuccessfully sued Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. META, -0.20% in its pursuit of VR developer Within, as well as Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT, +0.28% $ 69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc.