Dell drama takes new twist with 2 new buyout bids

Source: AP-Excite

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The two new suitors pursuing Dell have a message for Wall Street: Don't allow Michael Dell to hoard potential gains from the PC maker's expansion into more profitable technology products and services.

Competing bidders Carl Icahn and the Blackstone Group LP (BX) are wooing Dell shareholders with an offer of a little more money today coupled with the possibility of even bigger returns if the struggling personal computer maker can pull off the turnaround envisioned by its CEO and founder, Michael Dell and a group of investors led by Silver Lake Partners.

The new bidders are also making a statement by proposing to maintain Dell Inc. (DELL)'s status as a publicly traded company.

The long-awaited challenge to Michael Dell and Silver Lake began to unfold Monday with the announcement that Icahn, a billionaire investor with a long history of corporate confrontation, and the Blackstone, a major buyout firm, had submitted separate alternatives in an attempt to scuttle a $24.4 billion sales agreement that has been in place since Feb. 5.

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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130325/DA58BMH81.html

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In this Thursday, March 26, 2009 file photo, Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Inc., reacts to a question during a news conference in Beijing. Dell said Monday, March 25, 2013, that a special board committee plans to negotiate with Blackstone Group and activist investor Carl Icahn over new acquisition bids for the computer maker that rival an offer of more than $24 billion from an investor group that includes founder Michael Dell. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, File)