As if the deal pace isn’t frenzied enough, lawyers are now closing company sales even quicker. Flush with cash, technology companies have seized upon the tender offer as the quickest way to buy a public company. With a popular and preferential accounting rule for stock deals under fire by regulators, technology executives and Wall Street investors and analysts have had to swallow the fact that acquisitions take a bite out of the earnings statement.
That has more executives willing to dip into their stockpiles of cash, raised through initial public offerings and private infusions, to buy companies. If the target is publicly traded and cash is at stake, then buying shares of stock directly from investors — by literally tendering an offer — is the quickest way to do it. And the practice is poised to grow in popularity.
