After scoffing at $5-per-share bid last year, Atmel seeks options exchange - 29 Apr 2009

After scoffing at $5-per-share bid last year, Atmel seeks options exchange

Posted by Jack Davis on April 27th, 2009 at 7:06 pm | Categorized as Atmel, Docu-Drama, Options | Tagged as Atmel, Option exchange

Atmel CEO Steve Laub told employees
of the San Jose chip maker that its board has agreed to ask
shareholders to approve a “one-time” stock option exchange program at
its annual meeting scheduled for May 20 that would commence sometime
within 12 months following the vote.

“(L)ike many other companies in the technology industry, (Atmel) has recently experienced a substantial decline in its stock price,” the board explains in its proposal for the exchange. The company cites in its proxy
the same forces named by other companies that have initiated option
exchanges: the drop in global demand for chips along with the
industry’s excess manufacturing capacity.

However, in the interests of full disclosure, the company adds that
“stockholders should be aware that in fall 2008 an unsolicited joint
proposal to acquire the Company was made by two of our competitors,
which was subsequently withdrawn. One of those competitors later
announced its intention to elect a board slate at Atmel’s 2009 Annual
Meeting of Stockholders, and subsequently withdrew its slate of
directors and terminated its consideration of a potential transaction
with Atmel.”

In October, Atmel’s board turned down an unsolicited proposal from
Microchip Technology and ON Semiconductor to buy it for $5 a share, saying at the time

For more information on the Atmel Exchange.

Posted by Dan Walter

Performensation: Equity Compensation for High Performance Companies.