2nd UPDATE: Cisco Raises Tandberg Offer 11% To NOK19 Billion
(Adds comment.)
By Gustav Sandstrom
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) Monday raised its cash bid
for Norwegian video-conferencing-equipment maker Tandberg ASA (TAA.OS) by 11% to
19 billion Norwegian kroner ($3.41 billion) and said the U.S. network equipment
supplier said its offer was final.
"The new offer represents the offeror's final price for this transaction,"
Cisco said, adding that it will withdraw the offer if it doesn't achieve the
desired 90% level of acceptances.
Cisco raised its bid to NOK170 a share from NOK153.50 a share, and extended
the offer period to Dec. 1.
Tandberg's board of directors unanimously recommended the revised bid,
Chairman Jan Opsahl said in a statement. "We believe this is an outstanding
offer for our shareholders," Opsahl said.
Cisco said it has received acceptances representing over 40% of Tandberg's
shares, including from the largest shareholders, Folketrygdfondet and
Oppenheimer Funds.
Peter Germonpre, managing director at minority Tandberg shareholder Panta
Capital, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday that he would accept the new offer,
which he described as satisfactory although "not a knock-out bid."
Investment firm Panta Capital, which owns below 1% of Tandberg's shares, on
Nov. 6 said in an open letter that the previous NOK153.50 a share bid was too
low.
In early October, Cisco offered to buy the Norwegian company in a deal that
valued the it at around NOK17.2 billion. The offer represented an 11% premium to
Tandberg's share price Sept. 30 and a 38% premium to the price on July 15 before
reports emerged about an upcoming bid. Tandberg's board and management also
support the deal.
Several minority shareholders in Tandberg had rejected the original bid offer.
Swedish brokerage SEB Enskilda Oct. 15 said owners of 24% of Tandberg's shares,
which it represented, had turned down the bid saying that the premium was too
low.
Last week, Cisco extended the deadline for the offer to Nov. 18 in an effort
to lure the remaining holdouts seeking a richer bid.
The U.S.-based company has pushed into 30 new business areas, including video-
conferencing systems, which it says could each produce $1 billion a year in
revenue.
The raised bid looks fair and will probably be accepted by Tandberg's owners,
said Arctic Securities analyst Tom Olav Holberg, noting that several big
shareholders already had accepted the revised offer.
Tandberg Chief Executive Fredrik Halvorsen said the offer reflected Cisco's
support of Tandberg's technology.
"We continue to believe that Cisco and Tandberg share a vision of changing the
way people communicate and collaborate, and that the combination of world-class
technologies, Cisco's global scale, and exceptional people from both
organizations will enable us to accelerate innovation and market adoption,"
Halvorsen said.
Tandberg shares, which were halted on the Oslo exchange earlier Monday ahead
of the announcement, rose 3.6% to close at NOK163.20, outperforming a 1.1% rise
in the wider market.
Company Web sites: www.tandberg.com; www.cisco.com
-By Gustav Sandstrom, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3099; gustav.sandstrom@
dowjones.com
(Anna Molin contributed to this report.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-16-091243ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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