Voice solutions company iBasis is filing suit against Royal KPN NV to stop the Dutch communications firm from commencing a hostile takeover. In its legal complaint in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, Burlington, Mass.-based iBasis accused Royal KPN of breaching its fiduciary duties as an iBasis shareholder, said the Boston Business Journal. Last week, a special committee of iBasis board members advised the company’s shareholders to reject a $48.2 million acquisition bid by KPN and to ward off other “coercive” takeover plans. The move was in response to KPN’s unsolicited offer in July to pay $1.55 a share for a 44 percent stake in iBasis’ common stock. The company, based in the Netherlands, already owned a 56.3 percent share of iBasis stock at the time. The iBasis board members convened July 29 to weigh in on the proposal and unanimously rejected the offer. The board committee called the bid short-sighted and opportunistic.
iBasis Files Suit to Stop Hostile Overture
The board of iBasis advised shareholders to reject the bid as “short sighted and opportunistic.”
August 4, 2009