Viavi Solutions has launched a rival bid for Exfo. Its offer of USD 430 million is more than the price Exfo's founder agreed earlier this month to take the company private. However, Exfo said it will not consider the bid.
Viavi is offering USD 7.50 cash per share for Exfo, roughly double the company's price on the Nasdaq market before the earlier bid was announced. In comparison, Exfo founder and controlling shareholder Germain Lamonde wants to pay USD 6.00 per share to take full control of the company.
Viavi noted that its offer is at the higher end of the independent valuation obtained by Exfo from TD Securities when it was considering going private. Furthermore, the takeover would not require approval from Viavi shareholders and is subject to no financing conditions, as Viavi already has sufficient cash on its books to complete the deal.
A takeover would give Viavi increased scale and financial strengthen to grow in the testing market, including synergy opportunities from integrating the businesses and gaining new customers. Viavi said it would maintain the Exfo brand and its operations in Canada if the takeover is successful.
Exfo said this was the third approach from Viavi in less than a year, with offers made in May 2021 and November last year. Lamonde reiterated in a statement that he would not accept an alternative takeover, and either the minority shareholders accept his bid, or Exfo will remain a public company.
Exfo's board concluded that it was not worth considering Viavi's latest offer, as it could not be completed without Lamonde's backing. It plans an extraordinary shareholders meeting on 30 July to discuss the buy-out offer.
