In a letter dated and released Wednesday, Samsung Vice Chairman and CEO Lee Yoon-woo informed SanDisk's board that "we are no longer interested in acquiring SanDisk at $26 a share."SanDisk's response to Samsung's withdrawal can be read here. SanDisk (SNDK) shares are down 32.38% at press time and are trading at $9.98.
The letter said the offer was being withdrawn "after nearly six months of efforts to pursue a transaction with no meaningful progress."
Milpitas, California-based SanDisk, which last month rejected the bid, said in a statement Wednesday that Samsung's announcement came despite SanDisk having outlined a path for further discussions of the offer.
Samsung never contacted SanDisk regarding the proposal after SanDisk's board wrote a letter to Samsung on Sept. 15, the statement said.
"We believe this raises questions about the real motivations behind Samsung's offer," SanDisk said.
In rejecting the bid, Sandisk's board had determined the $5.85 billion takeover offer was "inadequate in multiple respects" and "opportunistic." Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung had said the offer was "full and fair."
Samsung withdraws $5.85 billion bid on SanDisk
Posted on Wednesday, October 22 2008 @ 19:39 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck