A special committee for McAfee.com Corp. has given its approval of an offer by Network Associates Inc’s to purchase the remaining 25 per cent of the antivirus services company.
In a statement released Friday morning, McAfee.com stated the committee recommended shareholders accept the revised offer of US$8 in cash and 0.675 of a Network Associates share for each of their shares.
Network Associates already owns the other 75 per cent of McAfee.com’s shares. The company upgraded its offer to purchase the remaining stock on Aug. 13 after the previous offer was rejected. The current offer that will be reviewed by McAfee.com’s legal and financial advisors is an 81 per cent improvement over the original offer made in March.
Despite the committee’s recommendation, the deal is still not final. Network Associates need to receive either a majority of shareholders’ votes or enough votes to bring the company’s total ownership up to 90 per cent for the deal to go through. McAfee.com stockholders have until midnight eastern time on Sept. 12 to make their decision.
Network Associates has made the move to reacquire McAfee.com to capitalize on its range of managed security services and reduce consumer confusion between McAfee.com and Network’s McAfee Security division. McAfee.com was spun off into a separate company from Network Associates in 1999. The process of bringing McAfee.com back under the Network Associates’ umbrella began in March of this year.
For more information go to http://www.mcafee.com.
– With files from IDG News Services