Quest shares leaped more than 9 percent to finish at $26.06 on Thursday, after the software maker said in a statement it had received an offer from a "strategic bidder," without naming that company.
The offer of $25.50 per share from the unidentified bidder marked a 7 percent premium to Quest's Wednesday close of $23.86.
On-again, off-again talks between Dell and Quest broke off last month. The PC maker at that time was planning to offer between $23 and $26 per share to buy the software maker.
Dell declined to comment.
(Editing by Gary Hill)
By Poornima Gupta and Nadia Damouni