WEST PALM BEACH, FL (www.hedgeco.net) – ValueAct Capital has said it plans to continue with its bid to acquire Acxiom Corp, according to Reuter�s news. ValueAct owns about 11 percent stake of AcxiomCorp, a services provider firm based in Little Rock Arkansas. ValueAct�s bid is about $23 a share for Acxiom. Acxiom management rejected the bid last month. It called ValueActs proposal�opportunistic�. The firm also stated that to pursue such deal would amount to financial irresponsibility on its own part, explaining that ValueAct has an �unproven track record of successfullycompleting acquisitions.”
An anonymous hedge fund Manager told Reuter�s news, “I don’t believe the bid.” Adding, “I don’t think they really want to buy the company. And the seller doesn’t want to sell. You have a problem here.” But the managing Partner at ValueAct, Mr. Jeffrey Ubben, has not disclosed what his next option is. He however stated, “We are not willing to just go away and are forcing accountability on a company that has never been held accountable.�
According to Reuters, Acxiom has several takeover defenses, which may include �a poison pill stock dilution measure that triggers when any one shareholder acquires 20 percent of the outstanding shares.� ValueActs action was however popular with its investors. Randall Baron, a lawyer for Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, told Reuters that Acxiom should not have out rightly dismissed the ValueAct offers. He noted, �It’s your fiduciary obligation to make sure you are doing everything to maximize shareholders’ interest in the company.”
Paul Oranika
Contributing Writer
HedgeCo.Net
Email: paul@hedgeco.net
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