Advisory firms follow ISS with Dell buyout endorsement
Both Glass Lewis and Egan-Jones say that shareholders should vote in favor of the Michael Dell buyout.
Michael Dell's offer to acquire outstanding shares in the company he founded and bring it private has been endorsed by two more advisory firms.
Glass Lewis and Egan-Jones, firms that advise shareholders in matters of public companies, announced on Monday that after reviewing Michael Dell's $13.65-per-share deal, it's in the best interests for the company's stockholders to vote for it.
The recommendation comes the same day Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS) announced that it believes that the deal -- which is valued at $24.4 billion and includes funding from investment firm Silver Lake Partners -- is a good one for the company's shareholders.
"We are pleased that all three of the nation's leading proxy advisory firms have issued clear and unequivocal recommendations in favor of the transaction now before shareholders for their approval," Dell's special committee of the board of directors said in a statement Tuesday. "Each has conducted an independent review and concluded, as has the Special Committee, that a sale of Dell for $13.65 per share in cash will provide certainty of value at a substantial premium, and is therefore in the best interests of shareholders."
The endorsements are just the latest bit of bad news for activist investor Carl Icahn, who has floated a plan to acquire Dell shares and keep at least part of the company public.
Dell shareholders will vote on the Michael Dell proposal next week.