Page 13 of Believing in a Billionaire
Grant stood stunned for a moment before he shook his head. “They own less than ten percent.”
“They don’t need to own over fifty percent to reach a majority,” another man explained. “It can be triggered as low as twenty-five percent.”
“What?” Grant said, his fingers curling into fists.
He slammed them against the table again. “How the hell did this happen?”
Ben lifted his shoulders as he shook his head. “They began aggressively buying at the opening bell today. We alerted you as soon as it became obvious that this looked like a potential hostile takeover.”
“You’re damn right it is. It’s a power play. We have to stop it.”
“We have a few options we can consider.”
“Do any of them rip these shares away from DG Industries?”
Ben shook his head, his gaze falling to the table.
“Not good enough, then.”
“Mr. Harrington, it will be all we can do to prevent the hostile takeover. There’s no way we can get those shares back right now.”
The knot in Grant’s stomach tightened. He didn’t like this at all. “What are the options?”
“Negotiation,” a man down the table said as he adjusted his glasses. “If you know anyone at DG, we could try to negotiate a collaboration to avoid the takeover.”
“No,” Grant barked, “and anyone else who mentions anything even close to involving DG Industries in Harrington Global can pack their things and leave before the close of business.”
Chairs squeaked as people shifted in their seats after his threat.
“There is a crown jewel defense,” a dark-haired woman said with a flick of her pen.
“What does that involve?” Grant asked.
Ben jumped in to explain. “We sell off some of our assets and divisions to make the company less attractive for a takeover.”
“No.” This takeover was personally motivated. It wouldn’t matter what he sold off, DG wouldn’t stop until they owned Harrington Global and ousted him as CEO.
“Pac-man defense?”
Grant knitted his eyebrows as he stared at the man who made the suggestion.
His slight form slouched down under Grant’s scrutiny. “It’s when we turn around and try to buy DG.”
Grant snapped his gaze to Ben. “Is that possible?”
“DG isn’t publicly traded, so we’d need to make a private offer–”
“That won’t work then,” Grant said with a shake of his head.
Silence stretched in the room again until Ben swallowed hard and spoke again. “We could attempt a share buyback. Try to acquire enough to prevent them from acquiring a majority stake. It’ll also drive up the share price, making it more expensive for them to play.”
“Yes,” Grant said, poking a finger at him. “ThatI like. Let’s do that.”
“The problem with that is,” the man in the glasses said, “it’s expensive for us, too.”
“So, what are you saying?”
Ben traced his fingers along the edge of the table. “We would…need to take on substantial debt to initiate a share buyback. Itcanmake us less attractive to the company gunning for us. But…it also puts us in a more precarious position.”
