UPDATED 16:04 EDT / JULY 30 2013

Michael Dell Won’t Budge Despite Negative Response to New Offer

Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners upped their offer for Dell last week in an attempt to persuade the company’s special committee to change investor voting rules. The founder hopes to tip the balance in his favor by reducing the threshold requirement of the August 2 ballot that will determine the future of his namesake firm.

Dell and Silver Lake bumped their proposal by 10 cents, less than one percent, to $13.75 per share. Needless to say, that wasn’t enough to please the committee. The directors said that they want at least $14 a share to even consider changing voting terms, a condition that Michael Dell does not intend to meet.

The billionaire CEO wrote in an email interview with the Wall Street Journal that $13.75 is his “best and final” offer.

“This is our best and final offer, as we stated clearly in our letter last week,” Dell stated. “The fact that many parties over many months looked at this company and were not willing to pay more than $13.65 per share made it hard to justify an increase. But we ultimately decided that it was appropriate to put more on the table in connection with asking for a change in the voting standard to allow a majority of the unaffiliated shares voting to determine the outcome.”

Realizing that the odds are against him, Dell declared that he plans to stay with his company if his buyout proposal fails to garner sufficient support from shareholders. He also mentioned that he will would not take part in Carl Icahn’s leveraged recapitalization.

The hedge fund giant didn’t miss the opportunity to take a shot at the founder’s proposal. Icahn said in a statement that the shareholder protection offered by the current voting terms is “too important” to drop.


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