AT&T Co’s fight to take over NCR Corp is getting bloodier by the day. AT&T has already obtained a commitment of $600m from Chemical Banking Corp and has asked a group of 45 other banks to contribute to a one year $6,000m loan that AT&T plans to refinance – AT&T plans to replace what amounts to a temporary bridge loan for the bid by issuing shares. Bankers are said to be keen to lend to AT&T but are concerned about raising enough capital to balance such a large asset. To give them a little added encouragement AT&T will pay any bank that commits to the financing before noon on Monday an extra fee. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of heated conversations in Washington – NCR has approached Senator Metzenbaum who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, but he says he is not clear that the takeover has an antitrust dimension. The Ohio Democrat appears to have been won over to the AT&T camp at an early stage – he was apparently telephoned on Sunday by Mr Allen who assured him that the takeover would not effect jobs in Ohio and that NCR’s headquarters would remain in Dayton, Ohio. AT&T have also revealed that NCR chief Exley told AT&T in 1988, when it first approached NCR, that he would consider AT&T as a white knight should NCR be the target of a hostile bid, which would suggest that he could see some business sense in the merger. Exley told the New York Times he has no recollection of this conversation. NCR appears to be relying on what is termed a Borden defence by keeping up its threats of a mass management exodus – NCR executives have the right to exercise their golden parachute severance packages upon a change of board control.
