Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, first made the US$54.20-per-share offer in April, which valued Twitter at US$44 billion. But Musk then informed Twitter he would not proceed with the acquisition, claiming he was misled by the company over the number of spam accounts on the platform.

In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery in July. The two sides are scheduled for a trial starting Oct 17.

Musk sent a letter to Twitter on Monday night to notify his intention to complete the transaction as long as the lawsuit and pending trial are terminated, Twitter’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission says.

At a special meeting in September, a majority of Twitter’s shareholders voted in favour of the tech billionaire’s bid to take the company private. The deal values the company’s shares much higher than current trading.

Twitter halted trading midday Tuesday after shares surged more than 12% to US$47.93 on reports of Musk’s renewed proposal. The stock rose further after trading resumed and closed at US$52.02per share Tuesday, up more than 22%.

The Tesla chief’s decision to proceed with the original deal “is a clear sign” that Musk recognised he was unlikely to win against the Twitter board in the Delaware court and that “this US$44 billion deal was going to be completed one way or another”, said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities.

“Being forced to do the deal after a long and ugly court battle in Delaware was not an ideal scenario and instead accepting this path and moving forward with the deal will save a massive legal headache,” he added.