Cybersurf Corp. has told suitor Globel Direct Inc. that it isn’t for sale — at least under Globel’s current terms.
Cybersurf’s board of directors unanimously voted last week to reject Globel’s offer to purchase 100 per cent of Cybersurf. The board said Globel’s offer is financially inadequate.
“Globel is offering cash and shares worth less than the cash that Cybersurf has in the bank,” said Lorne Jacobson, board chairman.
“There is no value being offered to shareholders for the business franchise and the leading-edge software technology that Cybersurf has developed over the past several years,” Jacobson added.
“Furthermore . . . Globel has not presented a plan that demonstrates how the combination of the two companies would benefit Cybersurf’s shareholders,” he said.
Earlier last week, Globel’s Patrick McFall, vice-president of Ideas and New Media, told Business Edge that if Cybersurf rejected the bid, “we move into a hostile environment. We know the dissidents hold a lot of shares, and they’re not happy . . . And we know the management of the company owns a lot of shares.
It’s the people in the middle that we would have to take our story to.”
Cybersurf won a proxy showdown in December with a group of dissident shareholders who blamed the company’s poor financial performance on Cybersurf’s 3web, Canada’s largest free Internet service.
Cybersurf reported a loss of $8.6 million (34 cents a share) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2000.
Globel blends traditional paper-based direct-mail marketing with a wider e-commerce presence.
In other news, Cybersurf has announced that the baseline advertising inventory for its 3web service has been sold out, bringing 3web’s current national client base to more than 125 advertisers. 3web earns its revenue from the placement of demographically targeted digital advertising.
Web Watch:
www.cybersurf.net
www.globel.ca
