競(jìng)購者能打動(dòng)邁克爾?戴爾嗎？
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????戴爾公司（Dell Inc.）日前宣布，公司在“詢價(jià)期”收到了兩份收購出價(jià)，這兩份出價(jià)“很可能優(yōu)于”邁克爾?戴爾和銀湖資本（Silver Lake Partners）2月份給出的每股13.65美元要約。但兩份出價(jià)可能都會(huì)包含一些“公眾股權(quán)存根”；對(duì)于戴爾公司的創(chuàng)始人兼CEO邁克爾?戴爾而言，這一點(diǎn)難以容忍，他積極推動(dòng)戴爾私有化正是因?yàn)閷?duì)公司在公開市場(chǎng)的遭遇不滿。 ????第一份競(jìng)購出價(jià)來自于黑石集團(tuán)（The Blackstone Group），與之?dāng)y手的是規(guī)模相對(duì)較小的私募股權(quán)公司Francisco Partners和Insight Venture Partners。它們?cè)敢獬鰞r(jià)每股14.25美元收購戴爾股票，同時(shí)表示，愿意購買的股票數(shù)量將超過戴爾和銀湖資本在要約中承諾的新股購買數(shù)量。當(dāng)然，部分原因在于黑石尚未獲得任何保證，不知道邁克爾?戴爾是否會(huì)像黑石希望的那樣愿意將自己的舊股換成新股。鑒于這樣的不確定性，上述出價(jià)至多只是意向性表態(tài)，不具有約束力。因?yàn)楹谑仨毷紫戎佬枰嗌偃谫Y以及能否控股，然后才能做出承諾，況且還不知道未來誰會(huì)成為這家公司的CEO。 ????黑石也沒有承諾進(jìn)行任何債務(wù)融資，只是表示，正在與摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）商洽，相信能籌措到所需資金。值得一提的是，最初出價(jià)的20億美元是以微軟（Microsoft）貸款的形式，只能用于銀湖資本此項(xiàng)交易(除非銀湖資本讓微軟來修改合約）。最終，黑石將允許現(xiàn)有的戴爾股東選擇現(xiàn)金或股票，從而產(chǎn)生前述的“公眾股權(quán)存根”。 ????第二份收購出價(jià)來自卡爾?伊坎，他已經(jīng)略微調(diào)整了最初的舉債派息計(jì)劃。他將投入超過50億美元進(jìn)行股份投資（包括將現(xiàn)有的10億美元股份進(jìn)行轉(zhuǎn)換），而且“假定”東南資產(chǎn)管理公司（Southeastern Asset Management）、T. Rowe Price金融集團(tuán)等大股東也會(huì)進(jìn)行股份轉(zhuǎn)換。所有這些都將以每股15美元的價(jià)格進(jìn)行，還包括一大筆遺留的公開股票。 ????伊坎沒有提及邁克爾?戴爾和他手頭現(xiàn)有的股權(quán)。 ????下一步，邁克爾?戴爾和銀湖資本將會(huì)發(fā)布一份詳細(xì)的代理委托書，闡述為什么他們較低的出價(jià)反而更優(yōu)。預(yù)計(jì)委托書將于周二或周三發(fā)布，但黑石和伊坎的出價(jià)可能會(huì)讓事情復(fù)雜化（或者促使邁克爾?戴爾在原有出價(jià)上再加價(jià)幾十美分）。 ????簡(jiǎn)言之，邁克爾?戴爾將說明，這家PC巨頭在向企業(yè)服務(wù)提供商轉(zhuǎn)變的過程中，無法系統(tǒng)性地準(zhǔn)確預(yù)測(cè)財(cái)務(wù)表現(xiàn)——此類波動(dòng)性給一只公開上市的股票帶來了不必要的混亂。因此，他要求自行承擔(dān)這一風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，將公司轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐患宜接衅髽I(yè)。很難想象他會(huì)簽字同意一項(xiàng)繼續(xù)保留公眾股權(quán)的競(jìng)價(jià)，可能讓他失去控股權(quán)的競(jìng)價(jià)就更不用提了。 ????有一件事可以肯定：這事還沒完。遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒有。 |
????Dell Inc. announced this morning that it received two acquisition bids during its "go-shop" process, and that both "could reasonably be expected to result in superior proposals" to the $13.65 per share offer submitted in February by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Both deals, however, would include a public equity stub that would seem anathema to Michael Dell -- the founder and CEO whose interest in taking Dell private is centered around his disdain for how the company has been treated by public markets. ????The first rival offer comes from The Blackstone Group (BX), which is working with smaller private equity firms Francisco Partners and Insight Venture Partners. It would pay $14.25 per share for Dell (DELL) and says that its equity commitments in excess of new equity committed in the Dell and Silver Lake bid. Of course, that's partially because Blackstone does not yet have any guarantee that Michael Dell would be willing to roll over his shares -- although Blackstone hopes that he will do so. That uncertainty underscores how this is an indication of interest rather than a binding bid, since Blackstone wouldn't commit itself before knowing how much financing is actually required and if it would have majority control -- let alone who the company's future CEO would be. ????Blackstone also doesn't have any debt financing committed but says that it is working with Morgan Stanley (MS) and is confident it can line up the money. Worth remembering that $2 billion of the original offer comes in the form of a loan from Microsoft (MSFT), which is exclusively tied to Silver Lake on the deal (unless Silver Lake lets Microsoft amend the contract). Finally, Blackstone would allow existing Dell backers to choose cash or stock, leading to the aforementioned public stub. ????The second bid comes from Carl Icahn, who has slightly modified his original dividend recap plan. He would put upwards of $5 billion in equity toward the deal (including rollover of his existing $1 billion stake) and would "assume" rollover from other large shareholders like Southeastern Asset Management and T. Rowe Price. All of this would get done at a $15 per share price, and also would include a massive public equity stub. ????Icahn does not make mention of Michael Dell or his existing equity. ????The next step will be public release of a detailed proxy statement from Michael Dell and Silver Lake, laying out a case for why their offer actually is superior at a lower price. That was scheduled for tomorrow or Wednesday, but the Blackstone and Icahn bids may complicate matters (or cause Michael Dell to add a couple quarters to his own bid). ????In short, Michael Dell will argue that Dell has proven systemically unable to accurately predict financial performance in the midst of its transition from a PC giant to an enterprise services provider -- and that such volatility plays unnecessary havoc with publicly traded shares. So he instead will ask to assume the risk and work to transform the company as a private enterprise. Hard to imagine him signing onto a rival offer that would still require public equity participation -- let alone one that may not allow him to maintain control. ????One thing we know for certain: This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot. |
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