Under 10 percent of Tandberg shareholders have accepted the tender offer by networking giant Cisco, which had announced plans to acquire its rival in the video conferencing space. Some shareholders have said the offer is too low. Cisco says it will be evaluating whether or not to withdraw the offer.By Joergen Frich and Richard Solem
OSLO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) said investors holding 9.37 percent of Tandberg's (TAA.OL) shares had accepted the tender offer by the largest U.S. network equipment maker for the Norwegian videoconferencing company.
Cisco said on November 9 it would extend its 17.2 billion Norwegian crown ($3.1 billion) offer to November 18, but the terms and conditions of its 153.5 crown a share offer would remain unchanged until then.
Cisco said on Tuesday it would announce soon after the extended offer period ends whether the 90 percent acceptances condition for the offer has been met, and would evaluate whether or not to withdraw the offer then.
"This confirms what we have believed for a while ... the big majority wants to wait and see how this develops. There's no point in accepting, when you see that 20-30 percent of shares are not accepting," said analyst Tore Tonseth from Argo Securities.
Shareholders representing 30 percent of Tandberg shares have publicly said they would oppose the offer, demanding more money from Cisco.
Analysts expect Cisco to sweeten its bid.
"A range of 160-170 (crowns) is a natural place to go to. There's probably some downside if Cisco doesn't raise its offer and that uncertainty will Cisco take advantage of," Tonseth said. "A lot has happened since Cisco made the offer. The market has rallied, and Tandberg has delivered strong results."
Tandberg shares were little changed at 151.5 crowns by 0910 GMT (4:10 a.m. EST).
(Writing by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
($1 = 5.596 Norwegian crowns)
