By Gustav Sandstrom
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Minority owners in Tandberg ASA (TAA.OS) Friday said Cisco Systems Inc's (CSCO) recommended bid for the Norwegian video-conferencing-equipment maker is at least 11% too low and should be raised if it is to be accepted.
In an open letter ahead of the offer period expiration on Nov. 9, investment firm Panta Capital and advisory firm Scott & Associates AG said Cisco's current 153.50 Norwegian kroner per share offer doesn't adequately reflect Tandberg's operational performance or the valuation of its peers.
An acceptable bid price would be at least NOK170 a share, Panta Capital's managing director Peter Germonpre told Dow Jones Newswires.
However, Cisco press spokesman Tim Burt told Dow Jones Newswires Friday that his company considers the current bid premium to be "full and fair."
He said Cisco hasn't yet decided whether it will extend the offer period and walking away from the Tandberg bid could be an option.
Cisco will disclose its decision after reviewing the level of acceptance on Nov. 9, said Burt. He said the 90% acceptance aimed for by Cisco is "a demanding threshold" and the company doesn't yet know how many Tandberg owners may accept the current bid.
Cisco and Tandberg on Oct. 1 announced the recommended bid offer, which values the Norwegian company at around 17.2 billion Norwegian kroner ($3.03 billion). The offer represents an 11% premium to Tandberg's share price Sept. 30, and a 38% premium to the price on July 15 before reports emerged about an coming bid.
Peter Germonpre said Friday Panta Capital and Scott & Associates each represent less than 1% of the total shares in Tandberg, but that he has spoken to other Tandberg shareholders who "have the same issues and concerns" about the bid.
"I think the acceptance is going to be pretty low," he said.
Swedish brokerage SEB Enskilda Oct. 15 said owners of 24% of Tandberg's shares, which it represented, had rejected Cisco's bid claiming that the premium was too low.
Panta Capital and Scott & Associates aren't among the owners represented by SEB Enskilda, Germonpre said Friday.
Tandberg press spokesman Geir Olsen declined to comment regarding the ongoing bid process.
Cisco has pushed into 30 new business areas, including video-conferencing systems, which it says could each produce $1 billion a year in revenue. The move into "telepresence" reinforces the Silicon Valley-based networking-equipment company's rivalry with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), which also sells video-conferencing gear and has stepped up its investment in networking equipment.
Cisco this week posted a 19% profit drop and a 13% revenue decline for its fiscal first quarter, but Chief Executive John Chambers issued his most forceful comments yet that the economy was improving and that businesses were ready to resume spending on technology.
In recent weeks, Cisco has backed up its optimistic view by spending more than $6 billion on four acquisitions, including its offer for Tandberg.
At 1207 GMT, shares in Tandberg traded up 0.6% at NOK152, against a 0.5% rise in the wider Olso market.
Company Web site: www.tandberg.com
-By Gustav Sandstrom, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3099; gustav.sandstrom@dowjones.com
(Ben Worthen in San Francisco contributed to this article.)