Hooverâs investor hires advisor to eye deal options?
Hoover's investor hires adviser to eye deal options
January 14, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Marathon Partners, a Hoover's Inc. (HOOV) shareholder that opposes a board-approved takeover by D&B Inc. (DNB) , said on Tuesday it hired a financial adviser to explore alternatives to the deal.
Austin-based Hoover's, which provides online data about companies, last December agreed to a $7-a-share takeover from financial information publisher D&B, formerly known as Dun & Bradstreet. Hoover's has public support from about 36 percent of the company's shareholders.
"We believe that a significantly higher price for Hoover's is easily warranted," Cibelli said in a statement. "While we certainly have not been given much time to investigate alternatives to the transaction negotiated on behalf of the public majority, we remain committed to investigating all the possibilities that may exist."
Cibelli said Hoover's projects revenues of $100 million and net income of $25 million over the next four or five years, implying a share price of at least $20 by his calculations.
Hoover's shares, which were down 2 cents to $7.11 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, have been trading higher than $7, signaling investor anticipation of a higher bid from either D&B or another suitor.
In addition to Cibelli, who has filed a lawsuit to try to block the deal, two other shareholders -- Disciplined Growth Investors and Retzer Capital, who combined own about 7 percent of Hoover's -- have publicly opposed the deal.
An official at Knowledge Universe, which owns about 6 percent of the company, told Reuters on Tuesday in an e-mail statement that it probably would not disclose its position on the proposed transaction.