Carlos Slim Helu has been a problem for Verizon .
MCI’s largest shareholder has criticized Verizon’s
$23.50 per share takeover bid for
the network services provider. But then Verizon offered Helu $25.72 per
share for his 43.4 million MCI shares.
Problem solved.
“While this was an opportunity for us to purchase a block of shares under
unique circumstances and is an important step forward in our acquisition of
MCI, we will continue to assess the situation as we move toward a vote by
the MCI shareholders,” Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a brief
statement.
The deal, which comes to $1.1 billion for 13 percent of MCI, was announced
Saturday — a day the stock market is closed and newsrooms operate with
skeleton staffs.
But it didn’t take long for word to spread over the weekend and for MCI
shareholders and rival MCI bidder Qwest to blast the
agreement.
Bill Miller, CEO of Legg Mason Capital Management, which holds MCI shares in
its funds, called on MCI’s board to demand the same price for all equity
holders.
“Shareholders would be outraged if the board did less than insist that the
identical terms be made available to all other owners,” Miller said in a
letter to MCI CEO Michael Capellas.
The private pact negotiated with Helu has a number of advantages over
Verizon’s merger proposal on the table for other MCI shareholders, Miller
said.
For example, Helu will receive his cash in just a few weeks, while other MCI
shareholders would wait until the transaction officially closes — a
potentially lengthy process that involves regulatory approval. And other
financial stipulations in the deal nudge the value of Helu’s sale closer to
$27 per share, Miller estimated.
“For the board to continue to insist that the prior offer of $23.50 is
sufficient and fair would be unconscionable,” Miller said. “If presented
with any offer from Verizon that is less than the present value of what they
are paying Mr. Slim, we will vote against it.”
Peter Thonis, a Verizon spokesman, said the carrier won’t comment beyond
Seidenberg’s statement. As for Miller’s criticism, Thonis noted that Legg
Mason is “a major Qwest shareholder.” An MCI spokesman was not immediately
available for comment.
Qwest, repeatedly rebuffed in its $8.9 billion effort to buy MCI, also
criticized Verizon’s end-around.
“By entering into its deal with Mr. Slim, Verizon has both created two
classes of shareholders and called into question the MCI board’s previous
determination that Verizon’s lower offer to the other MCI shareholders was
superior and fair,” Qwest said in response. “We believe Qwest has a
superior proposal for all shareholders.”
Qwest is still weighing its options, which could include a hostile
takeover bid for MCI.
