Have you checked out what’s been going on this week in regard to EGL, Inc chairman and CEO Jim Crane’s proposed private equity buyout of EGL?:
Jim Crane, chief executive of EGL Inc., has a decision to make. The company’s special committee of board directors said Monday that it has determined that the latest bid for the company by an affiliate of Apollo Management LP is superior to Crane’s bid.
The New York private equity firm, through an affiliated European company, CEVA Group Plc, submitted a new bid at $43 on May 3. That is $5 a share higher than an offer accepted by the board from Crane and his partners, Centerbridge Partners LP and The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.
In March, Crane — the transportation and logistics company’s largest single shareholder — was forced to sweeten his cash offer from $36 to $38 in light of pressure from Apollo, which claimed that Crane was trying to steer the board away from its first offer.
Crane has until May 11 to respond to the special committee’s decision with a revised proposal. If no further bid is tendered, the board would then consider whether or not to terminate the existing merger agreement with Crane and accept the Apollo bid.
EGL would have to pay a $30 million termination fee to kill the current deal with Crane and his partners.
Apollo’s latest offer for EGL (NASDAQ: EAGL) puts a $1.75 billion value on the company, or about 8 percent higher than the May 2 closing price of $40.
Let’s see now. By my calculation, when Crane’s group made its original buyout proposal early this year, EGL stock was trading at $29.78. Now, four months later, Apollo is offering $43 a share, despite the fact that EGL’s financial performance was less than stellar during the 4th quarter of 2006.
And Ben Stein says that management led-private equity buyouts are bad for public company shareholders?
