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Technology Stocks : INPR - Inprise to Borland (BORL)
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To: i-node who wrote (4727)3/20/2000 11:30:00 PM
From: Lewis Edinburg  Read Replies (2) of 5102
 
I wonder what happens to INPR stock if the deal doesn't get the go-ahead? Even with the payoff to CORL, I think the stock will be devastated for the near-term.

At this point, I think the Board would have to back out of the deal (without getting the shareholders involved) to invoke a penalty payment to Corel. If it goes to a vote of the shareholders and they vote it down then there would be no penalty to pay to Corel. I don't think there are many shareholders who wouldn't "gladly" have paid this penalty right after the acquisition was announced so INPR could get on with its life. I think the penalty amounted to approximately $0.50/share. How much more than that has our stock sunk because if being associated with Corel?

I have been against this deal from the start because I didn't think it made sense for Inprise (both for the shareholders and for the company as an entity to produces something valuable).

One way I have looked at the deal is to consider if it had been the other way around: Would Inprise acquire Corel? Don't even worry about the ratio if it's an all stock deal.

What does Corel have to offer to Inprise? Nothing that I can think of so far. On top of that, throw in that we got a terrible price (all stock deal tied to a poorly performing company, and at a poor conversion ratio at that.) If we had faith in our Board of Directors, we should be concerned that the Board of the combined company will be dominated and controlled by Corel Board members. What kind of company management will we end up with? If anyone has found any positive articles about Corel's management by legitimate press, please post a link.

I have been waiting for a compelling argument to be made by Inprise convincing me that the deal would be good for us. Since the company is now in a Quiet Period, we have had to wait patiently.

With the reported terrible performance by Corel (both for the last quarter and projected for the next two quarters), I am finding it even harder to believe there will ever be a convincing argument made by Inprise management.

Now for my problem: Even if Inprise gets out of this acquisition by Corel (either by the Board or by vote of the shareholders), won't Wall Street look at this and say that Inprise's management and Board have gotten themselves into a terrible deal.... Why should Wall Strteet believe that they are capable of leading the company in the future?

My problem is that I feel that Dale Fuller has done a good job (until this colossal mis-step) in improving Inprise shareholder value. The turn-around this past year has been fantastic. Even if we get out of this deal, what does the future for Inprise stock look like after this blunder?
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