The BOD can turn down the offer and can do so without providing much of an explanation. Or they can accept it. I know KB pretty well and I would wager a dollar or two that he would not accept the first offer. It is a first offer and nobody puts their best offer in the first exchange.
I personally wouldn't play hard to get, I wouldn't ask for anything, I would just say, we're not in play, and thanks but no thanks.
So that would make the suitor think. Would they increase the offer? Or would they try to tender for control by buying shares. Tendering for shares is a tricky business. Yes there are tens of millions of shares available from stock traders who, if asked, would say they are stuck in the stock, or its dead money, or many of these people might say that they believe to their toes that management is corrupt and liars and thieves.
But a tender could also unleash a poison pill. Millions of warrants could be issued, entire classes of stock could be bonused and the Preferred Designations changed. The company has been smart. They have raised money from a smallish groups of entities who could be conscripted. And if conscripted this would not be their first rodeo. Or, management and the Board could encourage another offer from a known friendly party, an offer larger or smaller (probably), and then accept it.
Or management could raise a lot of money. Every dollar of cash raised would have a multiplier effect on the share price, probably 3X or 4X per dollar raised. So if the current offer is $20 million, raising an additional $5 million would have an additional $20 million effect on share price.
Lots of things could happen. What won't happen, for obvious reasons, will be a shareholder conference call or incessant news releases. And no, J&J isn't going to step in and buy the company. They still think they can win the lawsuit. They're wrong, but the vice is not tight around their balls yet.
I personally wouldn't play hard to get, I wouldn't ask for anything, I would just say, we're not in play, and thanks but no thanks.
So that would make the suitor think. Would they increase the offer? Or would they try to tender for control by buying shares. Tendering for shares is a tricky business. Yes there are tens of millions of shares available from stock traders who, if asked, would say they are stuck in the stock, or its dead money, or many of these people might say that they believe to their toes that management is corrupt and liars and thieves.
But a tender could also unleash a poison pill. Millions of warrants could be issued, entire classes of stock could be bonused and the Preferred Designations changed. The company has been smart. They have raised money from a smallish groups of entities who could be conscripted. And if conscripted this would not be their first rodeo. Or, management and the Board could encourage another offer from a known friendly party, an offer larger or smaller (probably), and then accept it.
Or management could raise a lot of money. Every dollar of cash raised would have a multiplier effect on the share price, probably 3X or 4X per dollar raised. So if the current offer is $20 million, raising an additional $5 million would have an additional $20 million effect on share price.
Lots of things could happen. What won't happen, for obvious reasons, will be a shareholder conference call or incessant news releases. And no, J&J isn't going to step in and buy the company. They still think they can win the lawsuit. They're wrong, but the vice is not tight around their balls yet.
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