Emulex secures 88 percent acceptance rate in Endace bid

Thursday 14th February 2013

American computer network provider Emulex Corp says it had received acceptances for 88.4 percent of the shares of New Zealand-based, London AIM exchange-listed Endace, and will extend its offer to Feb 26 to allow it to mop up remaining shares, if possible.

If Emulex reaches 90 percent acceptances, it has the option to trigger the compulsory acquisition provisions of the New Zealand takeovers code, although the bid for the Auckland developer of computer network visibility products is not conditional on a full takeover.

Emulex had already extended its bid to Feb 12 after slow acceptances for the GBP80.7 million offer, which was made just before Christmas. It will not extend the offer beyond Feb 26 without declaring the bid wholly unconditional, Emulex said in a statement to the New York Stock Exchange.

The takeover will see Endace de-list from the AIM exchange, where it's struggled to gain investor attention for its innovations in network visibility.

"The acquisition of Endace doubles our total addressable market and places Emulex in another high-margin, high-growth market, enhancing our ability to deliver industry-leading solutions to connect, monitor and manage high-performance networks," Emulex said.

A founding shareholder of Endace, Labour Party backer Selwyn Pellett, found himself in a spat with Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce when the deal was announced after Pellett said he regretted that government assistance had helped build the firm, but that it would be owned offshore in the future.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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