The deal is for cash, and includes the assumption of $756m of debt. The investment firm Silver Lake is also putting up money to close the acquisition.
The $27.10 per-share price adds a 14% premium to Acxiom’s Wednesday closing price and a 20% premium to the previous 30 days’ average closing price.
Acxiom’s Charles Morgan said in a statement: ValueAct Capital has consistently contributed valuable strategic insights to our business over the past four years, and Jeffrey Ubben, ValueAct Capital’s managing partner, has provided further leadership since August 2006 as a member of our board of directors.
Morgan and Ubben have not always had such friendly words for each other. Ubben, whose ValueAct was already Acxiom’s largest shareholder, earned his board seat as part of an agreement to drop a proxy battle for control of the board last year.
Ubben had claimed that the company was being mismanaged, saying 30-year company veteran Morgan had taken to using company funds to finance personal indulgences such as sponsoring his son’s Nascar team and paying for a corporate jet owned by another Morgan-controlled company to go on vacation.
ValueAct tried to take over Acxiom in late 2005, but the $25 per share offer was rejected by the board. Ubben then launched the proxy contest, which resulted in his board seat and a $300m share buyback.
The acquisition is expected to close in three to four months, assuming the usual conditions are met.
Acxiom announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Silver Lake, the leading investment firm focused on large-scale investments in technology-driven growth industries, and ValueAct Capital, one of the largest investment firms that makes strategic block and control investments in public and private companies. Silver Lake and ValueAct Capital will acquire 100 percent of the outstanding equity interests in the company in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.0 billion, including the assumption of approximately $756 million of debt.
