Bonum Certa Men Certa

Paul Singer Still Goes After Novell



Summary: The 'vulture fund' responds to Novell's first rejection of a takeover, which still leaves room for more offers to be made

FOR background about what seems like Novell's imminent sale, have a look at:

  1. Novell May be Going Private, Hedge Fund Has Cash
  2. Analyst Expects Microsoft Bid to Buy Novell
  3. Ron Hovsepian Receives Another Large Lump of Cash as Novell Sale Looms
  4. GNU/Linux-Savvy Writers View Elliot Associates as Bad Neighbourhood
  5. Firm Behind Novell Bid Has Shady Past, Could be Tied to Microsoft (Paul E. Singer's 'Vulture Fund')
  6. Simon Phipps: “Seems Even With Microsoft’s Support Novell Couldn’t Cut It”
  7. Vulture Fund Still the Only Bidder for Novell


Not much has changed since then, but now they talk about the price. Here is the press release and some initial coverage [1, 2, 3]. It seems like an issue of price.

Novell Inc. said a $5.75-a-share acquisition offer from Elliott Associates LP is “inadequate” and undervalues the maker of Linux operating-system software.

Novell’s board is reviewing its alternatives, which include a stock repurchase, joint ventures, a cash dividend, a recapitalization and a sale of the company, the company said in a statement.


In the mainstream press, a lot of attention is paid to the word “inadequate”, which is included in many headlines [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. It does not indicate an idealogical issue but one that's to do with Novell being undervalued. According to the VAR Guy, Novell "Welcomes Other Bidders".

Translation: Novell is willing to listen to more takeover bids. But is that really news? Shouldn’t Novell’s board always be looking for alternatives to enhance stockholder value?

Also, Novell’s rejection of the Elliott Associates’ bid mentions “Novell’s growth prospects.” Hmmm… Is Novell really a growth company? Top-line financial results suggest no. But individual product groups — particularly SUSE Linux — suggest yes.


There is a push for Novell to offer itself, maybe to another company like Microsoft. "Elliott welcomes Novell's call to sell company," says Reuters. There is an official statement.

Investment fund Elliott Associates, which had previously bid for Novell Inc (NOVL.O), said it welcomed the business-software maker's decision to sell itself.

"We welcome the Board's decision to conduct a sale of the company, which we believe is the best way to maximize shareholder value," Elliott said in a statement.


It sounds rather fishy. It's almost as though they just want another company to pick Novell up. Additionally, since Singer's shell has almost 10% of Novell (in terms of shares), the surge of the stock has already made him money and publicity.

More in the New York Times (blogs): "Elliott Welcomes Novell’s Move to Put Itself in Play"

Elliott Associates said Monday that it was encouraged that Novell would consider selling itself after the business software maker rejected Elliott’s unsolicited $2 billion takeover offer as “inadequate.”

“We welcome the board’s decision to conduct a sale of the company, which we believe is the best way to maximize shareholder value,” Elliott said in a statement. “Our goal is to acquire Novell, and our cash offer to acquire all of the company’s shares for $5.75 per share provides shareholders with a substantial premium.” It added, “We look forward to the process and to actively pursuing an acquisition of the company.”


Novell is up on expectations of a sale [1, 2], which investors perceive as a positive thing. As we stressed before, Novell is just bargaining. The initial rejection does not mean that Novell opposes a takeover. It's like an animal's love dance.

Recent Techrights' Posts

KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
 
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: Game Recommendations, Schizo Language
Links for the day
Growing Older and Signs of the Site's Maturity
The EPO material remains our top priority
Did Microsoft 'Buy' Red Hat Without Paying for It? Does It Tell Canonical What to Do Now?
This is what Linus Torvalds once dubbed a "dick-sucking" competition or contest (alluding to Red Hat's promotion of UEFI 'secure boot')
Links 20/11/2024: Politics, Toolkits, and Gemini Journals
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: 'The Open Source Definition' and Further Escalations in Ukraine/Russia Battles
Links for the day
[Meme] Many Old Gemini Capsules Go Offline, But So Do Entire Web Sites
Problems cannot be addressed and resolved if merely talking about these problems isn't allowed
Links 20/11/2024: Standing Desks, Broken Cables, and Journalists Attacked Some More
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: Debt Issues and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
Links for the day
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar), Magna Carta and Debian Freedoms: RIP
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar) & Debian: from Frans Pop to Euthanasia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
This Article About "AI-Powered" is Itself LLM-Generated Junk
Trying to meet quotas by making fake 'articles' that are - in effect - based on plagiarism?
Recognizing invalid legal judgments: rogue Debianists sought to deceive one of Europe's most neglected regions, Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Google-funded group distributed invalid Swiss judgment to deceive Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: BeagleBone Black and Suicide Rates in Switzerland
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Links 19/11/2024: War on Cables?
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/11/2024: Private Journals Online and Spirituality
Links for the day
Drew's Development Mailing Lists and Patches to 'Refine' His Attack Pieces Against the FSF's Founder
Way to bury oneself in one's own grave...
The Free Software Foundation is Looking to Raise Nearly Half a Million Dollars by Year's End
And it really needs the money, unlike the EFF which sits on a humongous pile of oligarchs' and GAFAM cash
What IBMers Say About IBM Causing IBMers to Resign (by Making Life Hard/Impossible) and Why Red Hat Was a Waste of Money to Buy
partnering with GAFAM
In Some Countries, Desktop/Laptop Usage Has Fallen to the Point Where Microsoft and Windows (and Intel) Barely Matter Anymore
Microsoft is the next Intel basically
[Meme] The Web Wasn't Always Proprietary Computer Programs Disguised as 'Web Pages'
The Web is getting worse each year
Re-de-centralisation Should Be Our Goal
Put the users in charge, not governments and corporations in charge of users
Gemini Links 19/11/2024: Rain Music, ClockworkPi DevTerm, and More
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 18, 2024