Advent's dreams of putting itself on the block on the shelf, for now

After considering a sale, officials at Advent Software Inc. have decided to keep the status quo. A blog post and short statement from the firm released Monday indicates that the company did indeed take a look around, but decided against testing the waters further. In the statement, the company announced that its board of directors had indeed completed a review of “strategic alternatives with the assistance of its financial advisor, Qatalyst Partners, and its legal counsel, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.” The board decided that it would be better for its shareholders to remain an independent company. As Pete Hess, Advent's chief executive, noted in the statement: “We engaged in a thorough process and carefully considered various alternatives; the board believes we can best maximize shareholder value through pursuing our current strategic plan and our strong balance sheet and competitive position will allow us to continue to pursue strategies we believe will enhance shareholder value.” A brief Reuters story last week got the ball rolling and was followed up by coverage at several other outlets (including our own) . It would seem, based on Mr. Hess's blog post this morning, that this coverage caught some customers and internal employees at Advent a bit off guard last week. "I know that the rumors created some anxiety with our clients and especially for the Advent team," he wrote in an entry today on Advent's blog. You can read the full Advent blog entry from chief excutive Pete Hess this morning online. After reaching nearly $30 last week on reports of the company's sale interest, shares of the software maker dropped 7% Monday and were off $1.95 at $26.83 in afternoon trading after hitting a low for the day of $25.45.