In previous articles, I covered how a board should react to an unsolicited approach or offer for the company, how it would value it, valuing shares versus cash offers, whether it’s friendly, unfriendly or hostile, and irrevocable commitments. Here, I am going to look at the different sorts of offers that you might receive as a board and how you might respond. The ‘knock-out’ offer This is an offer that you think is so good, that you and your...
My earlier article talked about how a board should respond to an unsolicited approach for the company. This looked at a straight-forward offer that the board has to review and accept or reject. However it’s not always so easy, as much depends on the attitude and tactics of the offeror. The chairman of one of my competitors, calling out of the blue, explained that they were about to offer for my company. They had already spoken to my two biggest...
I was having a good day, sitting in my office sorting a few things out. Then, late afternoon, the phone rang. It was the Chairman of one of our competitors. I hadn’t spoken to him before, but this was no comfort, as he revealed that they were about to make an offer for my company. As a non-executive, the first you may hear of an approach like this is when an urgent board meeting is called. There will probably be bankers, possibly lawyers too,...
Corporate Governance
Economics
Notes From A NED