The CEO of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Michael Dell has made it clear that he will only support the deal with The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) if he remains the CEO of the company. According to a source, the company’s founder and Blackstone executives have discussed this many times in meetings held over the potential bid.
In February, an announcement was made by Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) that the company was all set to go private following the buyout by CEO Michael Dell and the private equity firm silver lake.
Currently the CEO holds 14 percent of equity shares in Dell. In order to go forward with the buyout process, Silver Lake needs to get approval from Dell’s shareholders.
The proposal by The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) provides two choices to the shareholders according to Dell: one being cash out and the other one will be to stay in. Those who will opt for cash out will receive $14.25 per share and those shareholders who will stay in will receive shares “valued in excess of $14.25.”
If the Company locks the Blackstone deal, it will remain public, which implies that the stock of the company will remain listed on NASDAQ.
If Blackstone does not agree on the terms of Michael Dell of remaining CEO even after the buyout by The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), then Michael Dell will have to cash in his shares and step down, as reported by Bloomberg. However, this will require Blackstone to arrange for $4.5 billion in financing, which was given by Michael Dell for the buyout.
The other potential offer from Carl Icanh also has two options, the first being cash out at $15 per share and the other being stay in. In this deal also the firm will remain listed on NASDAQ.
Though the original bid of Michael Dell and Silver Lake is still in the game, the proposals by The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) and Carl Icanh may prove to be stronger according to the statement from Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL).
Blackstone was looking forward to bringing in Mark Hurd, the former chief executive at Hewlett-Packard, to run Dell if the deal is successful; however, Hurd did not show any interest in the position.
