© 2010 Rapid TV News
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 05-10-2009
Kudelski is making a tender offer to buy the remaining shares in middleware subsidiary Open TV. It is bidding $1.55 a share which is a 17% premium over the $1.33 price of October 2, and an appealing 55% premium to the price prior to Kudelski’s last attempt to mop up stock. The tender offer bypasses OpenTV’s board. The bid is worth about $167m.
Kudelski tried a similar strategy before, but this fresh bid, besides being worth more cash to shareholders, is cheekily good for one day only – November 6, when the offer will expire at 5pm New York time.
Kudelski and its subsidiaries currently own approximately 13.4% of OpenTV’s outstanding Class A shares and 100% of OpenTV’s outstanding Class B shares, which together represent approximately 32.3% of the total outstanding shares of OpenTV and 77.2% of the voting power of OpenTV’s shares.
Kudelski says it plans to finance the transaction through a credit facility, as well as from available cash held by Kudelski and its subsidiaries. The commencement and consummation of the tender offer does not require the approval or recommendation of the OpenTV board, and Kudelski has not asked the OpenTV board to approve or support the tender offer.
© Rapid TV News 2009
