Xerox ratchets up acquisition pressure on HP

Xerox Holdings Corp. is rejecting HP Inc.”™s rejection of its $33.5 billion acquisition offer with a thinly veiled threat that it will aggressively pursue a takeover.

In a letter to HP”™s President and CEO Enrique Lores and Board Chairman Chip Bergh, Xerox CEO and Vice Chairman John Visentin claimed his Norwalk company was “very surprised that HP”™s Board of Directors summarily rejected our compelling proposal to acquire HP for $22.00 per share, comprising $17.00 in cash and 0.137 Xerox shares for each HP share, claiming our offer ”˜significantly undervalues”™ HP.”

Visentin repeated an earlier offer that the companies perform a mutual due diligence to determine the viability of the transaction, and added that Xerox will not just shrug off HP”™s lack of interest and go on its merry way.

“The Xerox Board of Directors is determined to expeditiously pursue our proposed acquisition of HP to completion ”“ we see no cause for further delay,” he wrote. “Accordingly, unless you and we agree on mutual confirmatory due diligence to support a friendly combination by 5:00 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 25, 2019, Xerox will take its compelling case to create superior value for our respective shareholders directly to your shareholders.

“The overwhelming support our offer will receive from HP shareholders should resolve any further doubts you have regarding the wisdom of swiftly moving forward to complete the transaction,” Visentin declared.

HP did not offer a public response to the letter. Earlier this week, Lores and Bergh informed Visentin that HP could not accept the acquisition offer due to “the decline of Xerox”™s revenue from $10.2 billion to $9.2 billion (on a trailing 12-month basis) since June 2018, which raises significant questions for us regarding the trajectory of your business and future prospects.”