Takeover

A takeover in business refers to one company (the acquirer, or bidder) purchasing another (the target). In the UK the term properly refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.

Friendly and hostile takeovers

When a bidder makes an offer for another company, it will usually inform the board of the target beforehand. If the board feels that the offer is such that the shareholders will be best served by accepting, it will recommend the offer be accepted by the shareholders. A takeover would be considered "hostile" if (1) the board rejects the offer, but the bidder continues to pursue it, or (2) if the bidder makes the offer without informing the board beforehand.

The main consequence of a bid being considered hostile is practical rather than legal. If the board of the target cooperates, the bidder will be able to conduct extensive due diligence into the affairs of the target company. It will be able to find out exactly what it is taking on before it makes a commitment. A hostile bidder will know only the information on the company that is publicly available and will therefore be taking more of a risk. Banks are also less willing to back hostile bids with the loans that are usually needed to finance the takeover.

In a private company the shareholders and the board are likely to be either the same people or closely connected with one another. Therefore all private acquisitions are likely to be friendly, because if the shareholders have agreed to sell the company then the board, however comprised, will usually be of the same mind or be sufficiently under the orders of the shareholders to cooperate with the bidder. This point is not relevant to the UK concept of takeovers, which always involve the acquisition of a public company.

In cases where management may not be acting in the best interest of the shareholders (or creditors, in cases of bankrupt firms), a hostile takeover allows a suitor to bypass intransigent management. In this case, this enables the shareholders to choose the option that may be best for them, rather than leaving approval solely with management. In this case, a hostile takeover may be beneficial to shareholders, which is contrary to the usual perception that a hostile takeover is "bad."

Reverse takeovers

A reverse takeover is a type of takeover where a private company acquires a public company. This is usually done at the instigation of the larger, private company, the purpose being for the private company to effectively float itself while avoiding some of the expense and time involved in a conventional IPO. However under AIM Rules (London Stock Exchange rules for companies) A reverse take-over is an acquisition or acquisitions in a twelve month period which for an AIM company would:

exceed 100% in any of the class tests; or
result in a fundamental change in its business, board or voting control; or
in the case of an investing company, depart substantially from the investing

strategy stated in its admission document or, where no admission document was produced on admission, depart substantially from the investing strategy stated in its pre-admission announcement or, depart substantially from the investing strategy

Financing a takeover

Cash

A company acquiring another will frequently pay for the other company by cash. The cash can be raised in a number of ways. The company may have sufficient cash available in its account, but this is unusual. More often the cash will be borrowed from a bank, or raised by an issue of bonds. Acquisitions financed through debt are known as leveraged buyouts, and the debt will often be moved down onto the balance sheet of the acquired company. The acquired company then has to pay back the debt. This is a technique often used by private equity companies. The debt ratio of financing can go as high as 80% in some cases. In such a case, the acquiring company would only need to raise 20% of the purchase price.

Loan note alternatives

Cash offers for public companies frequently include a "loan note alternative" that allows shareholders to take part or all of their consideration in loan notes rather than cash. This is done primarily to make the offer more attractive in terms of taxation - a conversion of shares into cash is counted a disposal that will trigger a payment of capital gains tax, whereas if the shares are converted into other securities, such as loan notes, the tax is rolled over.

All share deals

A takeover, particularly a reverse takeover, may be financed by an all share deal. The bidder does not pay money, but instead issues new shares in itself to the shareholders of the company being acquired. In a reverse takeover the shareholders of the company being acquired will end up with a majority of the shares in, and therefore control of, the company making the bid. The company has managemental rights.

Takeover mechanics

Takeovers in the United Kingdom

Takeovers in the UK (meaning acquisitions of public companies only) are governed by the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, also known as the "City Code" or "Takeover Code". The rules for a takeover, can be found what is primarily known as 'The Blue Book'. The Code used to be a non-statutory set of rules that was controlled by City institutions on a theoretically voluntary basis. However, as a breach of the Code brought such reputational damage and the possibility of exclusion from City services run by those institutions, it was regarded as binding. In 2006 the Code was put onto a statutory footing as part of the UK's compliance with the European Directive on Takeovers (2004/25/EC).

The Code requires that all shareholders in a company should be treated equally, regulates when and what information companies must and cannot release publicly in relation to the bid, sets timetables for certain aspects of the bid, and sets minimum bid levels following a previous purchase of shares.

In particular:

a shareholder must make an offer when its shareholding, including that of parties acting in concert (a "concert party), reaches 30% of the target;
information relating to the bid must not be released except by announcements regulated by the Code;
the bidder must make an announcement if rumour or speculation have affected a company's share price;
the level of the offer must not be less than any price paid by the bidder in the three months before the announcement of a firm intention to make an offer;
if shares are bought during the offer period at a price higher than the offer price, the offer must be increased to that price;

The Rules Governing the Substantial Acquisition of Shares, which used to accompany the Code and which regulated the announcement of certain levels of shareholdings, have now been abolished, though similar provisions still exist in the Companies Act 1985.

Strategies

There are a variety of reasons why an acquiring company may wish to purchase another company. Some takeovers are opportunistic - the target company may simply be very reasonably priced for one reason or another and the acquiring company may decide that in the long run, it will end up making money by purchasing the target company. The large holding company Berkshire Hathaway has profited well over time by purchasing many companies opportunistically in this manner.

Other takeovers are strategic in that they are thought to have secondary effects beyond the simple effect of the profitability of the target company being added to the acquiring company's profitability. For example, an acquiring company may decide to purchase a company that is profitable and has good distribution capabilities in new areas which the acquiring company can utilize for its own products as well. A target company might be attractive because it allows the acquiring company to enter a new market without having to take on the risk, time and expense of starting a new division. An acquiring company could decide to take over a competitor not only because the competitor is profitable, but in order to eliminate competition in its field and make it easier, in the long term, to raise prices. Also a takeover could fulfill the belief that the combined company can be more profitable than the two companies would be separately due to a reduction of redundant functions.

Critics often charge that large companies initiate takeovers in order to boost their reported revenue (sales to customers) without giving sufficient regard to profit, which generally takes a hit when a company is acquired because of all the associated costs. Also a premium is always paid if the target company is financially healthy and not already desperate to be taken over.

The target company has several methods to avoid a takeover, if it wishes. These include legal actions, as in the case of the Hewlett-Packard purchase of Compaq, or the use of a poison pill, as set up by Transmeta.

Most dot-com companies were created for the express purpose of being taken over with a consequent immediate profit for their owners, as opposed to the usual purpose of creating a business: to create profit for its owners over time by generating cash which is paid in dividends.

Perceived pros and cons of takeover

Perceived pros and cons of a takeover differ from case to case but still there are a few worth mentioning.

Pros:

Increase in sales/revenues (e.g. Procter & Gamble takeover of Gillette)
Venture into new businesses and markets
Profitability of target company
Increase market share
Decrease competition (from the perspective of the acquiring company)
Reduction of overcapacity in the industry
Enlarge brand portfolio (e.g. L'Oréal's takeover of Bodyshop)
Increase in economies of scale

Cons:

Reduced competition and choice for consumers in oligopoly markets
Likelihood of price increases and job cuts
Cultural integration/conflict with new management
Hidden liabilities of target entity.

Occurrence

Corporate takeovers occur readily in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. They happen only occasionally in Italy because larger shareholders (typically controlling families) often have special board voting privileges designed to keep them in control. They do not happen often in Germany because of the dual board structure, nor in Japan because companies have interlocking sets of ownerships known as keiretsu, nor in the People's Republic of China because the state majority-owns most publicly listed companies.