Topps to get bought out soon... odd!

[mikesilvia]

As most of you know, Topps turned down an offer from Upper Deck. What is really odd is that Topps is now urging their shareholders to approve a sell out to a private firm for $1 less than the Upper Deck offer. Upper Deck offered $10.75 a share and now Topps is asking shareholders to approve a $9.75 a share buy out from two private companies, one managed by former CEO of Disney Michael Eisner.

Does anyone else find this odd? You are talking several million dollars lost to investors by taking a lesser offer. Does Topps hate Upper Deck that much?

Personally, I do NOT want to see Upper Deck buy Topps as I think it is bad for the card industry.

Thoughts?

[hoeser]

I give credit to the share holders if they do accept a lower offer. It is rare to see integrity in any financial transaction. They know the sale to Upper Deck would hurt the hobby.

[meuandthelot]

While it does seem odd based solely on dollar amount per share..There's more to it than the money.

One main thing was disclosure, the way this went down reeked of a ploy that was used quite alot in the business world.

UD would have had the right to request and scour many personnel and previously undisclosed area's of the Topps company.

I will agree this is odd ordeal, actually it has been since New York hedge fund Crescendo Partners LLC, staged a proxy contest against Topps last year.

Interesting to watch this unfold, see sportscards offer so much more ;)

[pr0phet]

Correct me if I'm wrong.. But didn't Michael Eisner have a part in Fleer with all there non sports cards they made.

Jay

[SingleDaddyof2]

From a collector POV, I'm just so glad that UD and Topps didn't merge. We'll see what the future holds for both companies...

[OCSportsCards]

It's not the fact that they don't want UpperDeck to have a stranglehold on the industry it is against the law to sell a public company (that's traded on Wall Street etc..) without entertaining other offers. These companies will make it look fair by looking over the offers, but you better believe before their board even went public about being bought out they all ready had a buyer ready to go....

[OnePimpTiger]

I had read Topps was skeptical of UD's ability to complete the deal that was on the table. I think the fact that it was UD had something to do with it as well...but I don't think that is the main reason.

And I'm not real sure about anything to do with Eisner being involved either. Of course, he may not have been the reason, but Disney has a habit of vastly overdoing and overproducing things just like UD does.

[hanji]

This will be very disappointing if Topps goes away. Been a 'Topps-man' for a long time.

hanji

[sivjosh]

Today is the shareholder meeting to determine whether shareholders will accept the $9.75 per share offer from the Eisner-led investment group.

[sivjosh]

Topps appears to be sold.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070919/topps...ver.html?.v=10