Pivotal receives 'superior' offer from CDC

Pivotal Corp. has received a definitive offer from CDC Software, a subsidiary of Chinadotcom Corp., that it calls a "superior transaction" to the deal it had agreed upon with private equity firm Oak Investment Partners.

The official proposal would give Pivotal shareholders a choice of either $2 per share in cash or a combination of $1 cash and $1.14 worth of Chinadotcom common shares.

Oak had agreed to pay $1.78 in cash for each Pivotal share. It planned to merge Pivotal with e-service software firm Talisma Inc. Shareholders were supposed to weigh in on that proposal this Wednesday, but Pivotal said it now plans to postpone that vote until Dec. 8.

Oak now has until Thursday to up its offer.

Pivotal's board of directors had recommended that shareholders reject an all-stock bid from rival Onyx Software Corp.