JPMorgan amended its offer to shareholders of Technicolor, the troubled French digital video specialist, to outpace a rival bid by private equity investor Vector Capital.
JPMorgan Chase investment fund proposed at Technicolor's annual shareholders meeting to go back to the terms of its initial offer but raised its price to 1.90 euros per share from 1.60 euros for the reserved capital increase that could see it buy a stake of up to 30 percent in the company.
The proposal is similar in terms of price to JPMorgan's second offer it had put forward on June 8 but that had been rejected by Technicolor's board as it added break-up fees as well as another clause effectively excluding any outside bidder.
The offer made on Wednesday did not contain these clauses.
"This has been a two-year dating process. JPMorgan is not a fast-dater but once we get married, we're here for the long-hold. I want to thank Vector for reminding us that a deal is never done until it is done," said David Walsh, partner at One Equity Partner and representing JPMorgan.
The move is the latest in a series of twists and turns in the past few weeks that saw JPMorgan and San-Francisco-based Vector Capital outbid each other in the hope of investing in Technicolor.
Vector Capital, which describes itself as a technology turnaround specialist, also raised the subscription price for its proposed reserved capital increase to 2.00 euros per share from 1.90 euros for a 17.5 percent stake.
Technicolor, which has cut its staff by 6,000 since 2008, has been seeking a partner for its loss-making set-top box business. It is also looking for a buyer for the last remaining factory making the devices in France, which filed for insolvency earlier this month.
This article is copyrighted by Reuters
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