Telecom Ramblings

This is turning into quite an interesting battle.  The special committee of the board of directors of international wholesale VoIP provider iBasis (IBAS: chart, news) has again rejected the advances of Dutch incumbent and majority shareholder KPN (KPN: chart, news).  The new price of $2.25 per share may have been some 40% higher than the initial bid, but the special committee still found it ‘grossly inadequate’.  They cite many reasons, but it all boils down to the fact that they feel KPN is trying to take advantage of depressed stock prices in order to walk off with the rest of the company for a song and a few trinkets.

KPN started out with a bid of $1.55 per share in July, which was met with a swift rejection,  more than a little outrage from shareholders, and a lawsuit to boot.  KPN waited a while, then responded by raising their bid by over 40% to $2.25.  They have the backing of several large independent shareholders, and don’t appear at all ready to back down yet.   So where do we go from here?

Now, of course KPN would prefer to get the best value it can, but it remains to be seen just how high they are willing to go before they call this thing off.  Nor is it clear where the special committee has drawn its line in the sand.  But it sounds like the two sides may still be quite far apart.