Hewlett-Packard again rejected Xerox’s $33.5 billion acquisition of the tech giant on Sunday, a day ahead of Monday’s deadline to buy or face hostile takeovers.
Editor’s note: This article is from Tencent Technology, is authorized to publish.
Recently, Xerox, a US printer copier manufacturer, made an offer to buy a personal computer giant, Hewlett-Packard Co., for $33.5 billion. According to the latest news from foreign media, on November 24, HP once again rejected Xerox’s offer. Foreign media said that it seems that HP and Xerox may launch a “hostile takeover war”.
According to foreign media reports, HP again refused Xerox’s $33.5 billion acquisition of the technology giant on Sunday, which was one day ahead of Monday’s deadline for choosing to acquire or face hostile takeovers.
Xerox has offered to buy HP for $22 a share, with a total purchase price of $33 billion, but Hewlett-Packard declined last week, HP said the company’s value was undervalued, and questioned Xerox’s future growth prospects. Hewlett-Packard also said it would consider the plan to buy Xerox in reverse.
For the unanimous objection of the HP board of directors, Xerox issued a follow-up letter last week requesting that HP either agree to a formal merger negotiation before November 25, or that Xerox will “provide compelling reasons” directly to HP shareholders.
Foreign media said that Xerox’s move has already sent a threat to hostile takeovers from Hewlett-Packard. In the hostile takeover, in the case of opposition by the board of the acquiree, the acquirer will buy the shares of the target company in the open market, and conduct mass lobbying of the other shareholders, launch a “agent war”, and replace the board to achieve Acquisition target.
In a response on Sunday, HP said Xerox’s offer was “speculative,” emphasizing that it would not make sense to merge the two companies’ businesses.
HP CEO Enrique Rores and Chairman Chip Burch said in a letter to Xerox CEO John Weisenting: “It is clear from your aggressive words and actions. It can be seen that Xerox intends to force a potential merger by speculative conditions without providing sufficient information.”
In view of Xerox’s business situation, HP reiterated its concerns about Xerox’s ability to complete this transaction.
Roles and Birch wrote: “Does Xerox haveThere is still uncertainty about the ability to increase the cash portion of the acquisition plan. People are also worried that even if they get financing, the value of the combined company’s stock will be under the pressure of excessive debt burden.
They also pointed out that Xerox “has not reached consistent revenue expectations in four of the past five quarters.” Since June 2018, the company’s revenue has fallen from $10.2 billion to $9.2 billion.
“When we discuss it privately with you in August and September, we repeatedly ask our questions; you have not solved them, but walked away and chose a hostile approach instead of continuing to go. More productive roads,” HP executives said.
This is a snake swallow acquisition, and HP’s market value is about three times that of Xerox.
Here was HP’s spin-off. Today’s Hewlett-Packard company mainly includes personal computer and printer business. Hewlett-Packard ranks among the top two in the personal computer market, and its market share and Lenovo Group are indistinguishable.
It should be noted that the famous American radical investor Carl Icahn has been involved in this acquisition. Icahn, already a shareholder of Xerox, has bought a $1.2 billion stake in Hewlett-Packard and is pushing the two companies. merge. However, for Xerox to acquire HP or HP to acquire Xerox, Icahn reportedly did not set conditions.
Xerox and Icahn all said that in the printer and copier business, HP and Xerox have huge synergies, and both parties can significantly reduce costs and enrich product lines. (Tencent Technology Review / Cheng Hao)