Shareholders had balked at the offer from Cox Enterprises to buy out all other owners of Cox Radio at $3.80 per share. Now the bid has been raised by a buck to $4.80 per share, which Cox Enterprises notes is a 45.5% premium to the closing price on March 20th, the last trading day before it made the original buyout offer. The deadline for acceptance of the tender offer has also been extended.
Shareholders were never thrilled with the $3.80 offer and the stock had traded above that mark from the time the buyout bid was announced. Also, several class action lawsuits were filed claiming that the offer was unfair to minority shareholders. Cox Enterprises already controls Cox Radio with its 58.7 million super-voting Class B shares. It also owns about 3.6 million of the 30.1 million publicly traded Class A shares.
The trading price dipped a bit after the $3.80 offer was endorsed by a special committee of Cox Radio’s independent directors. However, that thumbs-up was withdrawn as discussions continued with Cox Enterprises on a potential increase in the offer.
As it announced the improved offer yesterday (4/29), Cox Enterprises reported that only 417,300 shares had been tendered pursuant to the offer of $3.80. Shareholders who have already tendered will receive the same $4.80 now being offered without any further action required on their part. Unless extended again, the tender offer is set to expire on May 13th.
