UPDATED 06:59 EDT / JULY 30 2013

Michael Dell Sweetens the Pot for Shareholders

Michael Dell rescheduled the much anticipated shareholder vote on his company’s future for the second time this month in an effort to increase support for his modestly sweetened buyout offer.

Dell and partner Silver Lake Partners bumped their bid by 10 cents to $13.75 per share, or $24.6 billion, and requested that the board committee charged with overseeing the company’s sale change the current voting terms. The founder wants the committee to lower the threshold so that a majority of votes cast would suffice to seal the deal.

Investors have until August 2 to decide on Dell’s proposal. BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Corp – three of Dell’s largest shareholders – indicated that they will back the offer, but the supervisory committee remains unswayed. The group wants a commitment of at least $14 per share before even considering a change in voting terms.

“There appears to be a lot of fence straddlers — it’s a real nail-biter right now,” said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Maxim Group LLC. The provision to not count abstaining votes as ballots against the deal “officially tilts this in favor of the management buyout team,” he said.

Michael Dell is looking to take his company private and transform it into a full-fledged enterprise vendor, a plan that may or may not succeed. Carl Icahn, the sole remaining rivaling bidder, hopes to keep the firm public and generate a handsome return on his stake.

Icahn and ally Southwest Asset Management are offering investors the option to sell their stock at a price of $14, or hold onto their shares and earn as much as $5.51 a pop. Michael Dell said in a meeting with shareholders that Icahn’s proposal would upset employees and destabilize customer relations if passed.


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