An interesting twist appears to have emerged from Novell's (and many other companies, to be fair) backdating options scandals, which could make these companies vulnerable to takeover.

The Financial Times has come up with a novel assessment of the stock options scandal. It may open the door to takeover bids at as many as 42 companies. The primary leverage is that investors can ask the courts to call an annual meeting in many states when the company has not held one for over 13 months. Companies involved in the options scandal cannot send out proxies for these meetings because they do not have the required financial statements to go along.

Some fairly large companies, including McAfee (NYSE: MFE) and Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) are in the pool of firms with annual meeting problems.

Those darn SEC requirements that Justin Steinman referred to just a few days ago just keep coming up for Novell. So, if Novell is indeed in this vulnerable position - are they a desirable takeover target?