Five months after putting itself on the auction block, InFocus Monday was acquired for $39 million by Image Holdings Corp., an Oregon company run by entrepreneur John Hui. The companies said the deal is expected close in the second quarter.
Under the terms of the agreement, Image Holdings Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, IC Acquisition Corp., will make an all-cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of InFocus stock at $0.95 per share, or roughly $39 million total.
The offer represents a 36 percent premium over the April 9 closing price of $0.70 per share, the last trading day prior to the agreement, and a 90 percent premium over the last 30-day average closing price of $0.50 per share. The acquisition is subject to the tender of a minimum of 65 percent of InFocus outstanding shares.
"Operating as a privately held company is expected to reduce our costs and facilitate our ability to focus on longer-term priorities," said Bob O'Malley, president and CEO of InFocus, in a statement. "While this is a very big step for InFocus internally, our commitment to delivering innovative projection solutions has not changed."
In December 2008, the Wilsonville, Ore.-based company revealed it was working with investment firm Thomas Weisel Partners to seek a buyer. It was the second time in as many years that the struggling company had tried to court buyers. In 2007, investment firm Caxton Associates, which held 11 percent of InFocus' outstanding stock, demanded that after 11 consecutive quarters of losses the troubled company either put itself up for sale or let Caxton Associates appoint its own management team and bring in new directors.
InFocus worked with Bank of America to seek a buyer but did not complete a deal; the bidding companies have never been disclosed. InFocus' board brought in two new board members and replaced CEO Kyle Ranson with O'Malley, Tech Data's former senior vice president of marketing.
Hui is certainly no stranger to the tech business world. He sold eMachines to Gateway for $266 million in 2004, after having acquired the struggling PC maker in 2001 for roughly $1 per share. In 2006, NEC Corp. sold its Packard Bell BV unit to companies controlled by Hui for an undisclosed price.
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