Xerox Can't Just Copy the Same Offer for HP
Time is not on the photocopier company’s side. It needs to sweeten its bid.
Half-measures won’t cut it.
Photographers: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (HP); Douglas Healey/Bloomberg (Xerox)
Xerox Holdings Corp. is best known for inventing the modern photocopier. When it comes to the company’s $33 billion attempt to acquire HP Inc., Chief Executive Officer John Visentin needs to do more than simply copy and repeat the same terms.
It has been almost two months since larger rival HP rejected Xerox’s initial bid. Since then, little in the substance of the offer has changed. Xerox has assuaged some of HP’s concerns about financing by obtaining bridge loan commitments for the cash part of the bid. But the fundamental offer remains the same: $17 in cash and 0.137 of a Xerox share for each HP share, for a total value of about $22 a share.