With the threat of rival bidders coming out of the woodwork, and one firm rival, Cyacq Corp, indicating that it might top Dixons Group Plc’s $90.25-a-share offer, the British electronics retailer has decided that the 54% acceptances it has received for its bid for Cyclops Corp will do nicely, and has moved in quickly to take control. Its tender offer had been conditional on it gaining 80%, but an agreement with Cyclops that gave it an option to buy all the company’s authorised but unissued shares means that it effectively controls more than 80%. Three Dixons representatives have already joined the Cyclops board, and the conditional sale of the steel and industrial interests of the company to MSL Acquisitions for $110m has been approved, recouping more than half of the $207m Dixons has paid for the 54% stake it has bought. The main prize at Cyclops is the 119 store Silo electronic consumer goods retail operation, which did $23.2m pre-tax on sales of $494m last year, and Dixons is not yet sure that it will keep the 11-outlet Busy Beaver do-it-yourself chain that is also included in the Cyclops portfolio. Amstrad Plc shares were firm following the Dixons announcement, with fans of the company hoping that Dixons will quickly move to add Amstrad’s IBM Personalikes to the product line sold by Silo. At present, with only an obscure Texas distributor handling the PC1512, the US market represents a big hole in Amstrad’s strategy.
