McAfee accepts Network Associates offer
After several months of negotiations McAfee.com appears to have finally accepted a proposal to rejoin parent company Network Associates.
A special committee of McAfee.com's board of directors on Friday described as a fair deal the latest offer from Network Associates to acquire the shares of its subsidiary that it doesn't already own.
The current offer would exchange each outstanding share of McAfee.com for $8 cash plus 0.675 of a Network Associates share, worth around $10.46 based on Thursday's closing price. The total deal is only slightly higher than McAfee.com's Thursday closing price of $18.40, but considerably above the original offer, which was worth about $9.86 at the time.
Network Associates, which makes security software, sold shares in McAfee.com to the public in 1999. It owns about 75 percent of McAfee.com, which delivers antivirus and security services over the Web.
McAfee.com had rejected the original bid as financially inadequate, and Network Associates had come back with higher offers. Network Associates even pulled its McAfee bid after the company restated its results amid accounting irregularities.
Network Associates decided to get back into the game earlier this month, raising its offer yet again, and extending the time of the offer.
"McAfee.com's stockholders can now receive what we believe is a fair value for their holdings and benefit from the strategic advantages of the recombined companies," special committee member Frank Gill said in a release.