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Technology Stocks : GateField (GATE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: easytarget who wrote (3959)	5/12/2000 2:36:00 PM
From: SyncMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4005

Hey, easy. Looking at the chart (I haven't looked at my Gatefield stock in a long time, since it was very very STUCK.), I see that you are correct. But, of course, any acquisition company "should" try to time it the best for it's shareholders (not for the buyee's shareholders). So, of course, they used this glitch - why not? Perhaps if we hadn't seen this downturn, Actel never would have made the offer. For some time they have had the biggest say in what happens at GATE. To make such a low offer now when the market is just starting to recover and when they don't even need the votes of 95% of the shareholders (50% of the votes are controlled by 3 or 4 large shareholders, the largest being Actel) smells fishy and should be investigated. This may very well be true. When Gatefield dismissed it's sales and marketing team, it was relying very heavily on Actel. And it has become more and more evident that Gate would have no chance to rebuild this team if the Actel deal fell through. As far as not needing the votes of 95% of the shareholders, I think the laws are very uniform. If 50.1% of the shareholders of GATE stock vote for the deal, it's done. When you are talking about the 3 or 4 largest shareholders, I would gather you are talking about Idanta, Actel, etc. It would be interesting to see how much of Gate is already owned by Actel. It seems possible that all of the others view $5.25 as more than 0. I (and a lot of other people), have certainly been hoping to see gate come out with it's .25 and explode to the upside at 12 or 15 (or dare say $50!). And this is certainly the value that Actel is hoping to buy. But you will have to agree that an increasing amount of pessimism has been building in the stock. Delays and Delays. It has become apparent that Gatefield could not do it own it's own. Of course, maybe this was wrong. But when the board of director's of GATEFIELD accept a 5.25 offer, it certainly gives credence to the belief. Would they really take a low ball offer from anybody? Aren't they shareholders? Of course, if they are getting something else from Actel, then THAT should be investigated.

To: easytarget who wrote (3959)	5/12/2000 3:02:00 PM
From: lml	Respond to of 4005

Yes, EZ, Saxe's comments are truly an insult & a joke in the eyes of GATE SHs. I don't think that any minority SHs could vote in support of this buyout proposal. As I have stated on the RB thread, the key to how this proposal will come down lies in where Idanta stands on this issue and whether they have been able to acquire "other" interests beyond their common shares that would compensate them for being short-change on that portion of their investment. I don't have the time, but I would review their holdings of convertible preferred and convertible debentures to see if they have been able to squeeze more return out of their investment over the past year or so at the cost of common SHs based upon yesterday's announced buyout offer. I can't imagine Idanta being willing to get short-changed on their investment in their commonly-held shares unless they have been able to recuperate such a shortfall via other investment vehicles in GATE. If Idanta supports this buyout offer, I would look into these areas, particularly if I were a hungry lawyer looking for a lucrative shareholder derivative suit. Someone needs to learn where Idanta sits on all of this. It is not evident where their support lies from the news wire. Nevertheless, I am sure the lawyers are following this one closely. There are too many areas, IMHO, that are ripe for litigation; too many areas where there are obvious conflicts of interests. IMHO, if individual SHs squeak enough, or enlist a law firm, ACTL will be willing to cough up a more attractive offer. Don't know much, but it still would likely be less than fair value. I think the company is worth b/w $12-15 per share. No hard basis, just some quick rough estimates of value at this particular juncture. Gotta roll.