Mentor Graphics Corp, which is involved in a protracted hostile takeover bid for Quickturn Design Systems Inc, now says that 53% of Quickturn’s outstanding shares are within its grasp. As of October 30, the previous deadline for the $12.125 per share tender offer it originally launched in August, Mentor had been tendered 49.7% of the outstanding stock. It already owns 3.3% of the shares. Mentor has extended the deadline for the offer to November 30, but hasn’t actually purchased any of the shares tendered, as it waits for the outcome of legal disputes. Under Quickturn’s bylaws, the company cannot be acquired without a shareholders meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for November 24. Quickturn is doing everything within it legal rights to block the takeover, and is fighting to postpone the meeting until January. There is currently a tangle of litigation surrounding the takeover bid, with Quickturn looking to get a Delaware court to declare the offer illegal while Mentor is attempting to overturn the Quickturn bylaws that constitute its poison pill defense. It has again urged shareholders not to accept the offer, which it says does not represent fair value for the company, despite Mentor’s claim that its business has been in decline for about two years. Quickturn’s board points out that Mentor’s offer is more than 25% below the stock’s highest closing price over the last year, and less than 4% above its average closing price during the same period. Quickturn shares closed at $11 Tuesday, up $0.0625, while Mentor rose $0.25 to $8.50. At those levels, Mentor’s market capitalization is $555.9m and Quickturn is valued at $197.2m.
