Word: mergers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...merger debate rushes toward a March 19 shareholder vote, both sides have engaged in a nasty nationwide campaign of name calling. Last week Walter Hewlett, Bill Hewlett's son and the HP board member leading the fight against the Compaq merger, released a report on what the company should really be doing. Its main proposal: dump Fiorina. "She's burned a lot of bridges," Hewlett told TIME. "It's hard to see how she would survive." This came after the rest of the board, which backs Fiorina, drafted a blistering open letter to Hewlett: "You have insulted our personal commitment...
...what you do best--and what you're known for. In HP's case, that's printing and imaging. Hewlett would have HP ditch most of its low-margin PC business. Until recently, Wall Street seemed to be in lockstep with Hewlett. Shares plunged 19% when the proposed merger was announced, then soared 17% late last year when Hewlett came out in opposition...
...heard the stump speeches of both sides. "We try to confine ourselves to logic." Kumar's rationale counts more than most. Next week the influential ISS will mail a widely awaited report to pension funds and other big holders of HP stock. Because the family foundations opposing the merger control 19% of HP shares, Fiorina needs around two-thirds of institutional investors on her side...
...wouldn't say she's got the Big Mo, but there's clearly a change in investors' willingness to view the merits of the deal," says Joel Wagon-feld, research analyst at Banc of America Securities, which had previously been skeptical of the merger. Indeed, the gap between what HP wants to pay for Compaq shares and how the market values them--a key measure of merger confidence, called the arbitrage spread--has narrowed from a toxic $4.35 in November to $1.70. In another tacit sign of support, the company's top five shareholders have been quietly adding to their...
Hewlett certainly can't rely on regulators to scuttle the deal. The European Union rubber-stamped the merger without attaching conditions. The FTC will likely do the same. Support for the merger within HP has climbed to 65% from its 55% low, according to internal polling. (That HP has taken internal polls shows just how dicey things were.) And Hewlett's fellow board members have been increasingly eager to point out that Fiorina is not riding roughshod over them. "It's unfair to say this is Carly's deal," says Bob Knowling, a former CEO of Covad. "Compaq just makes...