A month after buying shares of Haivision to establish itself as the third largest shareholder of the streaming solutions provider, the Ontario company Evertz wants to buy the entire Montreal company.
Itself listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Evertz is offering to acquire all of Haivision’s shares at a price of $4.50 each, the equivalent of a 22% premium to the $3.70 share price recorded at markets close on Monday.
In response, Haivision’s stock quickly jumped 23% to $4.55 when trading opened Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, suggesting a higher bid is expected.
In response to Evertz’s initiative, Haivision simply said on Tuesday that its board would review the proposal to determine what is in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.
Experts, however, expect the proposal to be rejected.
“I expect Haivision to be more demanding,” commented analyst Robert Young of Canaccord in a research note sent to clients.
His colleague Nick Corcoran, at Acumen, agrees. “It’s probably an opening offer with the potential for an increase if negotiations continue,” he said in a note published on Tuesday.
Nick Corcoran calculates that even by paying $9 per share to acquire Haivision, Evertz would achieve a beneficial transaction for its shareholders.
For his part, Robert Young does not exclude the possibility that a competing proposal will emerge.
Last month, Evertz revealed that it bought shares of Haivision to hold a 10% stake. The Ontario company said it had bought the shares of Haivision for investment purposes. Evertz, however, sold a small block of Haivision shares last week, reducing its stake to just under 10%. In this way, Evertz is now no longer required to report its transactions in the security unless it makes purchases that again increase this stake to 10% or more.
In interview with The Press a month ago, the founder and CEO of Haivision, Mirko Wicha, was adamant: Havision is not for sale.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Mirko Wicha, founder and CEO of Haivision
Haivision made the leap to the stock market two years ago by completing an initial public offering at an initial price of $6 when Haivision’s turnover amounted to 83 million.
The company has since made two acquisitions and sales should soon reach 135 million. The company has grown and does not need money, pointed out Mirko Wicha last month. The value of the company nevertheless fell sharply with the whole of the tech sector.
