Listening to outgoing VNU CEO Rob van den Bergh and CFO Rob Ruijter explain the decision to accept a $8.9 billion bid from a private equity consortium and “defensive” is an understatement. It was their second call of the day and followed the news that major shareholder Fidelity will not support the deal.
– For those interested in forcing a breakup, they stressed that despite the “highly visible” situation the company has been in for the last six months it had received no overtures for two of the units and the only offer for a third was at a multiple lower than the offer accepted today. They said it was unlikely that even “in the best of circumstances” VNU could achieve a greater offer.
– “We worked our ass off and … we think it is a defendable result. … You can be very critical about , I will accept that, but we feel we have a good case to defend.” He added that it’s “way too early after one day.”
– Ruijter called some of the shareholder public attitude “posturing,” saying that at no point had shareholders asked that the process be halted.
– “We are not surprised by the first steps from a few shareholders.”
– Asked about his compensation for termination with change of control, van den Bergh replied: “I’m already terminated. I’m already dead, I’m doing this in my free time … I don’t get more than I get because I’m terminated. … Nothing more for me â
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