Wavecom brushes aside Gemalto’s offer: Gemalto eyes M2M market

France-based Wavecom SA has called Gemalto NV’s hostile take-over offer “inadequate” and not in the best interest of the company, its shareholders and employees.
Wavecom’s board of directors issued its stance Thursday after meeting to discuss Gemalto’s unsolicited offer that was made public Monday. Gemalto, a provider of digital security services, is offering to buy Wavecom in an effort to expand its business in the growing machine-to-machine market. Gemalto, which is based in the Netherlands, offered to buy Wavecom shares at 7 Euros each, which represented a 72% premium over the stock’s worth at the closing of the market Oct. 3. Wavecom provides embedded wireless technology for M2M communication.
“While Wavecom is always interested in any transaction that benefits shareholders and other stakeholders, we have concluded that the proposed acquisition by Gemalto fails to deliver sufficient value to merit support,” Anthony Maher, a Wavecom official, said in a press statement.
Gemalto filed the offer with the French Stock Market Authority and the timetable of the offer will be determined by the regulator. Wavecom officials said Thursday that its board will issue a detailed opinion on Gemalto’s offer to the stock market authority.
Olivier Piou, Gemalto CEO, said that Wavecom with his company’s resources would be able to “capture the full growth potential of M2M and give its employees a truly global reach and working environment.
“Our all-cash offer delivers in addition an attractive premium to Wavecom shareholders.”
Wavecom officials said the price offered does not reflect the intrinsic value and prospects of the company and reiterated its confidence in its management team to lead its employees and increase business. Wavecom officials said discussions between the two companies about a possible sale never occurred.