Michael Dell has succeeded in his battle to take his company private, agreeing a deal with shareholders valued at $24.9 billion.
Dell's plan to purchase his company back from shareholders, in partnership with the Silver Lake investment group and cash from Windows creator Microsoft, was announced back in February but not everyone was keen on the plan: shareholders, including the outspoken Carl Icahn, put up a considerable resistance which saw the buyout offer boosted to its current $24.9 billion level.
That extra sweetener of $500 million appears to have done the trick, with Dell announcing today that the buyout will go ahead with official agreement from the company's current shareholders.
The announcement comes days after Icahn, the most vocal of Dell's opponents in the deal, wrote a letter to shareholders accusing Dell of treating the company like a 'dictatorship' but admitting that he could not win the battle if his opponents keep redrawing the rules. '[We] argued that stockholders should not give up the huge potential of Dell and therefore should reject the proposed transaction. We won, or at least thought we won, but when the board realised that they lost the vote, they simply ignored the outcome.
'We jokingly ask "What’s the difference between Dell and a dictatorship?" The answer: Most functioning dictatorships only need to postpone the vote once to win,' a clearly bitter Icahn wrote. 'While we of course are saddened at our losing the battle to control Dell, it certainly makes the loss a lot more tolerable in that as a result of our involvement, Michael Dell/Silver Lake increased what they said was their "best and final offer."'
Dell, naturally, is chuffed with his victory. 'I am pleased with this outcome and am energised to continue building Dell into the industry's leading provider of scalable, end-to-end technology solutions,' he claimed in a statement to press following the final shareholder vote on the deal.
Those with shares in Dell can expect to receive $13.88 per share, a slight premium over the company's closing price of $13.85 on the NASDAQ exchange last night.
Dell's plan to purchase his company back from shareholders, in partnership with the Silver Lake investment group and cash from Windows creator Microsoft, was announced back in February but not everyone was keen on the plan: shareholders, including the outspoken Carl Icahn, put up a considerable resistance which saw the buyout offer boosted to its current $24.9 billion level.
That extra sweetener of $500 million appears to have done the trick, with Dell announcing today that the buyout will go ahead with official agreement from the company's current shareholders.
The announcement comes days after Icahn, the most vocal of Dell's opponents in the deal, wrote a letter to shareholders accusing Dell of treating the company like a 'dictatorship' but admitting that he could not win the battle if his opponents keep redrawing the rules. '[We] argued that stockholders should not give up the huge potential of Dell and therefore should reject the proposed transaction. We won, or at least thought we won, but when the board realised that they lost the vote, they simply ignored the outcome.
'We jokingly ask "What’s the difference between Dell and a dictatorship?" The answer: Most functioning dictatorships only need to postpone the vote once to win,' a clearly bitter Icahn wrote. 'While we of course are saddened at our losing the battle to control Dell, it certainly makes the loss a lot more tolerable in that as a result of our involvement, Michael Dell/Silver Lake increased what they said was their "best and final offer."'
Dell, naturally, is chuffed with his victory. 'I am pleased with this outcome and am energised to continue building Dell into the industry's leading provider of scalable, end-to-end technology solutions,' he claimed in a statement to press following the final shareholder vote on the deal.
Those with shares in Dell can expect to receive $13.88 per share, a slight premium over the company's closing price of $13.85 on the NASDAQ exchange last night.
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