As a last-ditch effort ahead of Friday’s shareholder vote, Mentor Graphics Corp has again sweetened its hostile bid for Quickturn Design Systems Inc to $15 per share, matching the revised offer from white knight Cadence Design Systems Inc. Mentor’s latest offer would see the company purchase 2.1 million shares of Quickturn common stock, giving it a 14.9% holding – the largest amount it could have without triggering the company’s poison pill defense – and then acquiring the rest of the stock at a later date. Meanwhile, Quickturn shareholders are set to vote today on whether to replace the company’s current board with a slate of nominees put forward by Mentor who, if elected, would set about abolishing the poison pill and blocking the negotiated merger with Cadence. Not surprisingly, Quickturn’s board immediately rejected Mentor’s latest offer. Cadence, for its part, has cast doubt on Mentor’s ability to carry out the second step of its proposed deal, charging that the company does not have the financing necessary to do so. The company said in a statement, Our merger agreement with Quickturn is unambiguous. We will acquire 100% of Quickturn’s stock in a firm deal with no financing issues.” Cadence added that if Mentor’s nominees are voted down, it will move quickly to complete the deal.
