Quick Take: Dell Must Change Its LBO

The Dell board told founder Michael Dell it rejects the demand to change the voting for anything less than $14 a share.
By Bret Kenwell ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The drama continues in the bidding war over Dell (DELL) - Get Report. TheStreet's Debra Borchardt and Antoine Gara andTheDeal's Jonathan Marino discussed the different scenarios of what happens next.

The Dell special committee didn't care much for founder Michael Dell's and Silver Lake's offer of $13.65 per share, while eliminating absent voters from the count.

Marino said the board is trying to help Dell win the bidding war with hedge fund manager Carl Icahn, but isn't going to simply hand over the keys. On Friday there is a scheduled vote for Michael Dell's $13.65-a-share offer, which will not likely tilt in his favor.

He added that the vote will likely be rescheduled for a later date, with a private offer of $13.75 being on the table.

Gara said Michael Dell could walk away with the company if he and Silver Lake would just raise the bid to $14. Although Dell will likely need to pony up some of this cash on his own, his history with Silver Lake goes back several decades, possibly making it easier to persuade it to put up more money as well.

However, it's important to note that often these leveraged buyouts do not work out very well for the private equity firm. Marino added that Silver Lake might not want to participate in a higher bidding price.

Gara said Icahn is known for creating interesting offers. If Michael Dell does raise his bid, Icahn could come back with something interesting once again.

-- Written by Bret Kenwell in Petoskey, Mich.

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Bret Kenwell currently writes, blogs and also contributes to Robert Weinstein's Weekly Options Newsletter. Focuses on short-to-intermediate-term trading opportunities that can be exposed via options. He prefers to use debit trades on momentum setups and credit trades on support/resistance setups. He also focuses on building long-term wealth by searching for consistent, quality dividend paying companies and long-term growth companies. He considers himself the surfer, not the wave, in relation to the market and himself. He has no allegiance to either the bull side or the bear side.

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