Ken Wigglesworth, Newbridge's chief financial officer, said the
pressure isn't surprising. "Institutions call very regularly, period, and
I'm sure some of them are asking 'what's happening,' 'how long is
this going to take,' 'this seems like a long time,' and so on," said Mr.
Wigglesworth. "We're providing no signals or anything. We're going
about our business."
He said the expectation of news by Feb. 22 is a deadline set by the
markets, not by Newbridge, which has set no internal deadlines for
pursuing strategic alternatives.
"I think it's just that Feb. 22 is the next time Newbridge will be
communicating in a detailed way with the public so people see that
as a meaningful date. On the analyst conference call that day there's
no way questions won't be asked on that area if we said nothing.
"You don't go out for drinks and sign a multi-billion dollar deal," he
continued. "Generally this process takes time and the best interest is
to go through all the alternatives at the full extent and do what you
have to do. Clearly we have shareholder value in mind." |
