Acxiom Corp. said yesterday that its board of directors unanimously rejected a second takeover bid from ValueAct Capital Partners LP.
Hedge fund ValueAct Capital, San Francisco, increased its takeover bid by $2 a share on Oct. 21 to $2 billion. Its original offer was $23 a share. In a letter to the company’s board of directors, ValueAct managing partner Jeffery W. Ubben upped the offer and criticized the company’s second-quarter earnings.
Subsequently, a majority of the independent directors of Acxiom’s board met with ValueAct representatives last month. The board voted to reject the offer Dec. 19, saying that it was not in the company’s best interests and that shareholder value would exceed ValueAct’s offer.
“We have seen increasing strength in our business performance as our fiscal year has progressed, which we are confident will allow us to exceed consensus analysts’ estimates and achieve the primary goals reflected in our Financial Road Map,” company leader Charles D. Morgan said in a statement.
Acxiom is expected to announce its third-quarter results for fiscal 2006 and its 2007 projections on Jan. 25.
ValueAct, which is Acxiom's biggest shareholder with an 11.75 percent stake, first stated its intentions to acquire Acxiom in a June 3 letter from Ubben that disparaged Acxiom's financial management and board of directors for failing to increase shareholder value.
Kristen Bremner covers list news, insert media, privacy and fundraising for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
