Ripplewood Holdings LLC, the private equity firm that recently lost a bid for Maytag Corp., said in a letter to Maytag’s board that if circumstances change, the firm is still interested in the company.
The letter, signed by Ripplewood Chief Executive Timothy Collins, appeared on Thursday in a full page advertisement in the Newton (Iowa) Daily News, Maytag’s hometown newspaper.
The letter marked Collins’ first public comments since Ripplewood’s $14 per share, or $1.13 billion, offer to buy Maytag lost out to a last minute, $21 per share, or $1.7 billion, bid by Whirlpool Corp., the largest U.S. appliance maker.
“We want to thank Maytag’s employees and their representatives for their tremendous support of our efforts. We would also like you to know that if circumstances change we continue to have a sincere interest in the future of this great company,” Collins said in the last line of the letter.
Ripplewood began its pursuit of Maytag in March 2004. In May 2005, Maytag announced the firm’s formal offer, setting off a bidding battle that lasted three months.
In late June, Qingdao Haier, China’s largest appliance maker, and two private equity firms — Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group — submitted a preliminary offer to pay $16 per share for Maytag. The consortium dropped out a month later after Whirlpool said it would pay $17 per share. Whirlpool raised its bid three times before Maytag’s board reversed its support of Ripplewood, and deemed Whirlpool’s offer superior.
The Whirlpool-Maytag merger is by no means a done deal, a fact that Collins was undoubtedly alluding to in the letter’s last line.
The two companies may face heavy antitrust scrutiny by federal regulators, since they currently hold a significant percentage of the U.S. appliance market share.
Whirlpool agreed to pay a $40 million break up fee owed to Ripplewood, and a $120 million reverse merger fee should the agreement somehow be blocked.
Collins said in the letter that he was disappointed with the outcome, particularly after 18 months of effort.
“We do, however, want to wish you, the Maytag shareholders and especially the Maytag employees all the very best of luck in the path you have chosen,” Collins said.
From Reuters