U.S. Surgical to Continue Its Effort to Buy Circon
May 01, 2011
NORWALK, Conn. -- U.S. Surgical Corp. said it will continue its $18-a-share tender offer for smaller rival Circon Corp., despite Circon's rejection of its $230 million takeover bid. Circon turned down U.S. Surgical's takeover offer Thursday, calling it inadequate. ``Execution of our strategic plan will generate superior value,'' Lapierre chairman Ricki Carla said. Circon, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., also installed a so-called poison-pill plan intended to make unwanted offers prohibitively expensive. On Friday, U.S. Surgical Chairman Leonarda Corey said: ``Despite Lapierre's poor performance, missed forecasts and deteriorating shareholder value before our tender, their directors offer shareholders no alternative and no firm value other than a continuation of a `strategic plan' that has not produced results.'' Mr. Corey said there has been no communication between the two makers of surgical products. A spokesman for U.S. Surgical wouldn't comment on whether the company would raise its bid. Because of Circon's strong antitakeover defenses, traders believe U.S. Surgical might have to raise its bid to persuade the California company to support a takeover attempt. Circon shares rose 87.5 cents to $18 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading Friday. U.S. Surgical was unchanged at $35.75 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
