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OTTAWA - Corel Corp. (TSX:CRE) says its largest shareholder, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Vector Capital, is offering to take the software vendor private again in a deal that values the company as a whole at US$280 million.

That offer of US$11 cash for the 31 per cent of Corel that Vector doesn't own is a slight premium to the recent market price for the Ottawa-based software vendor, best known for its Corel graphics products and WordPerfect office productivity software.

However, the offer price is down from US$15.36 when the shares began trading in April 2006 after the Ottawa-based company did an initial public offering that kept Vector as the majority owner.

Corel, at one time Canada's best-known software company and a potential rival to Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) in the office productivity segment of the desktop computer market, was bought and taken private by Vector several years ago

The company later returned to the public markets but, except for a few days shortly after the IPO, the stock has traded lower ever since.

The board of directors of Corel has formed a special committee of independent members to assist it in evaluating and responding to the proposal and other related strategic considerations.

According to figures compiled by Thomson Financial, the shares not held by Vector are mostly owned by investment funds..

Corel shares traded at US$10.80 on the Nasdaq market and at C$10 in Toronto before a halt was issued ahead of the announcement.