IDG News Service - Cisco Systems has given shareholders of Norwegian videoconferencing vendor Tandberg about two more days to accept its $3.4 billion buyout offer.
The company extended the offer period, which was to have ended Monday, until 5:30 p.m. Central European Time on Thursday. Shortly after that time, Cisco will announce whether the required 90% of Tandberg shareholders have accepted the deal, the company said.
The terms of the deal remain the same. After offering $3 billion for Tandberg on Oct. 1, having won the approval of Tandberg's board, Cisco reportedly ran into opposition from shareholders representing about 30% of the company's shares. Later, two investment companies wrote an open letter to Cisco detailing why they believed it had undervalued Tandberg and said holders of 24% of the company's shares would vote against the deal.
After extending its deadline once from the initial date of Nov. 9, Cisco raised its offer to $3.4 billion on Nov. 16 and set a new expiration date of Dec. 1.
Tandberg is a major vendor of video equipment for enterprises, an area of intense focus for Cisco. If the acquisition goes through, it would significantly expand Cisco's videoconferencing product lineup beyond its high-end TelePresence systems.
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