Speaking of the rising COVID-19 pandemic, Xerox said Friday that it hits the pause button in its quest to acquire HP. The company continues to move forward with its bidding offer and slate proposal, but said it now focuses on the health of its employees, customers and channel partners.
“While we closely monitor the reports of government and healthcare leaders around the world and work with colleagues in the business community to minimize the spread and impact of the virus, we believe it is wise to postpone additional presentation publications, interviews with media and meetings with HP shareholders, so that we can spend our time and resources protecting Xerox’s various stakeholders against the pandemic, “said John Visentin, Xerox’s CEO.
While Xerox said the market decline due to the new coronavirus did not influence the decision, both Xerox and HP shares have been affected along with the wider market.
Earlier this month, Xerox officially launched a bid to buy HP, offering $ 24.00 per share, or $ 18.40 in cash and 0.149 Xerox shares per HP share. The bid is an increase over Xerox’s initial bid and aligns with HP’s market value of $ 27 billion.
In November, HP’s board unanimously rejected Xerox’s original offer, saying the offer was significantly undervalued HP and was not in the interest of its shareholders. In January, Xerox announced that it had made $ 24 billion from binding financing commitments to support its combination proposal with HP.
HP quickly repealed the funding commitment, saying it was irrelevant because the Xerox purchase offer was too low. Xerox pledged to oust the existing HP board by vote of shareholders, and then increased its bid to $ 24.00 per share.
