Totally ridiculous
It should be, but I'm not entirely sure.
I wish I shared your confidence in the common sense of the institutional investors. It's not completely impossible that they will agree with Nomura -
...Celltech's Mr. Allen said he was surprised by OGS's reaction, given the offer was at a premium to the existing CAT price. He said Celltech preferred to use cash rather than shares as currency, and had used cash in its last four acquisitions.
"We're in a very uncertain market, and I think an offer for cash is certainty, and will be well respected and highly regarded by OGS shareholders. I certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of a spoiling bid," Mr. Allen said.
Some analysts seemed to agree.
While Celltech's offer is still below the net cash in the business, the fact that the offer is in cash is likely to appeal to shareholders, said Erling Refsum, analyst at Nomura. The support of the OGS board for CAT's original offer will hold little persuasion over cold cash, and while CAT may improve its offer, it's unlikely to be able to match that of Celltech, he said... |
