(Reuters) - U.S. data analytics firm Qlik Technologies Inc (O:QLIK) agreed to sell itself to private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC for about $3 billion, bowing to pressure from hedge fund Elliott Management Corp.
Qlik's shares were up 4.4 percent at $30.26 in early morning trading on Thursday, slightly below the offer price of $30.50 per share.
Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, which disclosed an 8.8 percent stake in Qlik in March, had said the company was ripe for being taken over by a larger technology peer.
Qlik joins a long list of companies such as Compuware Corp, Riverbed Technology Inc, Blue Coat Systems and Informatica that have been bought by private equity firms after Elliott started urging them to sell. Some of these companies were sold to Thoma Bravo.
Reuters had reported on Tuesday that Thoma Bravo was preparing to submit a binding bid for Qlik.
Qlik, which went public in 2010, focuses on creating applications that help businesses analyze and visualize data to help them save money.
The company's flagship product, QlikView, helps companies organize vast amounts of data in the form of reports, charts and infographics.
Qlik's shares have risen 20 percent since Elliott urged the company to explore a sale in early March.