Clarity Commerce’s board may have dismissed the bid from Jon Moulton’s Enigmatic Investments acquisition vehicle (see here) but any hopes of that being the end of the pursuit have been thoroughly dashed by Enigmatic’s trouncing response.
Among a catalog of reasons as to why shareholders should ignore the board’s recommendation and accept the offer, Enigmatic Investments highlights the loss from continuing operations in the most recent financial year and asserts that Clarity lacks stability and credibility with customers. It urges shareholders to take up the offer immediately, or at the latest by the deadline on October 19th 2011, in order to minimise disruption to Clarity’s operations.
It’s a tough situation for the weakened Clarity who appeared to be recovering in 2010 only to crash in 2011 (see Clarity Commerce reports a horrid year). The board must think the company has the ability to go it alone or is hoping for an improved offer from Enigmatic, or another party. The tone of Enigmatic’s response indicates that a higher offer (the existing one offers shareholders a 51% premium) is unlikely. The next round in this tussle will be here soon because Clarity is expected to make a response later today.