Velcro stock buyback proposed

January 13, 2009 5:03 AM

Velcro Industries NV is offering to buy back all of its remaining stock for $21 per share, the company announced Thursday. About 95 percent of the company is owned by Cohere Limited, which instituted proceedings last September in the Netherlands Antilles, where the company is headquartered, to acquire the remaining 5 percent for the same price.

Velcro Industries owns Manchester, N.H.-based Velcro USA, which employs 500 people in New Hampshire.

Velcro Industries argues that the buyback offer will save shareholders the transaction cost and result in timelier payout. The stock hasn’t traded for $21 a share all year, jumping to that price only after the tender offer was announced.

But some shareholders are holding out for more, hoping that the Court of First Instance in Curacao (one of the Antilles islands) would require a higher price for the forced sale.

Those who take the tender offer won’t be able later on to claim the price set by the court, according to the release.

The Velcro board approved the sale, but does not make any recommendations on the offer, which expires Feb. 10.

(Source: New Hampshire Business Review)

9 January, 2009