Aortech Share Discussion Threads

[spurious] 03/7/2012 13:43

Blether
The announcement states discussions held with two parties regarding heart valve and Co intellectual property although no firm bid/proposal received at this point.
It also refers to oppening up new enquiries or progressing existing ones.
Clearly there have been approaches/discussions whether it is Aor following up on initial discussions or vice versa. At this point these approaches/proposals have not turned into firm bids but with this announcement Aor is formalising the process and flushing out other interested parties and hopefully a bidding war will result.

[marlint111] 03/7/2012 13:39

I wouldn't say it's a belief, but wanted to raise it as a possibility (I've been on the side of small companies signing contracts with huge ones, and these clauses aren't uncommon).

I'm interested in what others believe the possibilities here could be - what would be in it for an acquiring company?

[harrogate] 03/7/2012 13:32

Clearly if that is your belief you should not buy and if you hold you should sell now. That is an easy decision. Those of us that believe there could be more here are now in a trickier position

[marlint111] 03/7/2012 13:20

The big unknown here is the contents of the Optim contract with St Jude.

It would not surprise me if there were clauses which

a.) Stated that upon bankruptcy the IP passes to St Jude.
b.) States that even if Aortech is acquired, the contract cannot be terminated, and St Jude can continue to buy the polymer at the same rate.

If this is the case, I find it hard to see what the motivation would be for anyone to acquire AOR...

[spurious] 03/7/2012 13:15

If I was a Special Sits or hedge fund manager I would be very tempted to take a position

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 13:13

Let me get this straight spur,
firstly where do you get that the company confirms it has received approaches
secondly Do you view todays RNS as positive?

[spurious] 03/7/2012 13:04

Blether
You dont half talk a load of mince!
Todays announcement merely confirms that the company is in discussion with potential bidders.The story has not changed nor has to my knowledge there been any fall off in interest nor does the announcement imply such but rather confirms that Aor has recieved approaches with a view to bids for part or all of the company.
Gac Des and I have tried to answer your questions politely but there comes a time when your irrational and one dimensional replies would suggest concern over your short position and makes reasoned discussion impossible which is a shame. We all rightly have our oppinions both positive and negative but lets stick to the facts
SP

[gac141] 03/7/2012 12:32

All relevant contacts in the States are now emailed. Would love to be a fly on the wall...

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 12:28

SP
We had uncertainty on AOR when the price was rising from 140p a yr ago to 375p
What we now have is realisation that we not as in demand as we thought and dont have bidders tripping over themselves to make an offer for the company and worst of all we are running out of money

[landy90] 03/7/2012 12:22

2.4 THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A POSSIBLE OFFER
(a) An announcement by the offeree company which commences an
offer period must identify any potential offeror with which the offeree
company is in talks or from which an approach has been received (and
not unequivocally rejected).
(b) Any subsequent announcement by the offeree company which
refers to the existence of a new potential offeror must identify that
potential offeror, except where the announcement is made after an
offeror has announced a firm intention to make an offer for the offeree
company

The waivers from the Takeover Code Rules above enable the Compny to hold discussions/negotiatons without having to disclose the identity of the potential offerors.

[spurious] 03/7/2012 12:09

Blether
What the market is reflecting is uncertainty rather than dissappointment.
The reason why we all invested, apart from the obvious shorters, are now in play and as harrogate rightly states this should be viewed positvely
regards
SP

[harrogate] 03/7/2012 11:42

I am not too worried about the market since if it was always right no one could make any money and we have a few shares sold only. The key here is that the process that we all wanted to start has started but the wording of the announcement seems to suggest value is limited. I hope that share price is right and they couldn't be that inept.

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 11:37

SP,
it seems the market doesnt share your confidence and looks at this development as negative

[spurious] 03/7/2012 11:25

Blether
Firstly just to reaffirm that what Gac and Des have said re leaving St Jude to last in negotiations was to my knowledge always the stated aim of the Co and makes good sense.We are now in the position where we see how important we are to St Jude. I cannot believe the current BOD would be so inept that they announce what appears to be a firesale by highlighting a need for cash along with a potential sale and think there must be more happening in the background which puts us in a far stronger position than todays announcement would appear to show.
I feel we may already be sitting on an offer possibly from Medtonic for the heart valve which involves a JV and cash but rules dictate certain wording. The BOD have always preferred an offer for the business as a whole so this announcement is the final part of the jigsaw in flushing out ST Jude and also forcing Medtronic to bid for Aor as a whole.
I think it would be helpfull for George keeping the Street up to date with the confirmation that Optim is up for sale and let us hope it generates a firestorm of interest that results in a bidding war between Medtronic and St Jude

regards SP

[deswalker] 03/7/2012 11:24

Check out the embedded video in the above link. Anyone spot any of our Board ?

[deswalker] 03/7/2012 11:19

This looks like a big event held last week ...

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 11:06

b 2000 back

[harrogate] 03/7/2012 11:04

Thanks... That sounds like very specific information! I do think the next 3 - 4 months could be interesting though and fingers crossed.

[deswalker] 03/7/2012 11:01

harrogate ... I don't know the answer to your question but I would point out that they've only approached two parties so far and there's no indication that they aren't interested even though they haven't made any proposals.

I'm very curious about all these waivers from various parts of the Takeover Code and wonder why they would go to such trouble. They've clearly given this process some thought ...

[harrogate] 03/7/2012 10:50

Des..I agree with that but do you truely believe given the wording of today's announcement that those informal calls or the period of consultation with other possible suitors have produced an interest level that suggests St Jude are going to have to pay £30 million for this? I realise we are all guessing.

[deswalker] 03/7/2012 10:45

To seek the best possible return is to play brinkmanship and threaten the company that is your only client explains a lot

Nobody is threatening anybody. It seems common sense to me that if you have a natural buyer for a business then before starting negotiations with them you first look to see if anybody else might be interested. It's perfectly obvious that SJM will be interested as anybody who has followed this share knows, so why not make a few informal calls to others first to gauge their reaction.

It is not the job of the AOR Board to make it easier or harder for SJM. It is their job to lay all cards on the table as they have done following a period of consultation with other possible suitors in addition to the obvious SJM.

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 10:28

To seek the best possible return
is to play brinkmanship and threaten the company that is your only client explains a lot no wonder the shares have reacted like they have
SJM will pick up the IP from administrators for pennies

[harrogate] 03/7/2012 10:27

The good news of course is that we are now in the end game of a long disappointing saga for the company. It is also good news that they have appointed Pipers to handle the process...a look at their website gives you a sense of the deals they have done in this sector and they don't do small transactions. The bad news is that the announcement to me smacked of disappointment with the reaction so far from whoever they have spoken to and I can see Des/Gac logic that they would speak to others before St Judes. I just don't sense in any way that this is a £5/£6 per share deal and feel that they have engineered a situation where we will be glad to get out at £3. I have a lot of these so I hope I am wrong but I did not like the announcement wording one bit.

[deswalker] 03/7/2012 10:17

blefh,

To engineer the best possible return. That is the strategy they have adopted so far. Not IMO but fact !!

Des

[blefh182] 03/7/2012 10:14

Des,
That is ridiculous!!
why would you got to your end users competitors first