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Excerpt from Current Issues and Rulemaking Projects Outline (November 14, 2000)

Section II.D.2. Mergers & Acquisitions - Current Issues – Identifying the Bidder in a Tender Offer

Rule 14d-1(c)(1) of Regulation 14D defines "bidder" in a tender offer as "any person who makes a tender offer or on whose behalf a tender offer is made." The term bidder, for Regulation 14D purposes, does not include an issuer that makes a tender offer for its own securities. Each bidder in a tender offer subject to Regulation 14D must file a Schedule TO and disseminate the information required by that schedule.

The determination of who is the bidder does not necessarily stop at the entity used to make the offer and purchase the securities. Rule 14d-1(c)(1) also requires persons "on whose behalf" the tender offer is being made to be included as bidders. For instance, where a parent company forms an acquisition entity for the purpose of making the tender offer, both the acquisition entity and the parent company are bidders even though the acquisition entity will purchase all securities tendered. The staff views the acquisition entity as the nominal bidder and the parent company as the real bidder. They both should be named bidders in the Schedule TO. Each offer must have at least one real bidder, and there can be co-bidders as well.

The fact that the parent company or other persons control the purchaser through share ownership does not mean that the entity is automatically viewed as a bidder. Instead, we look at the parent's or control person's role in the tender offer. Bidder status is a question that is determined by the particular facts and circumstances of each transaction. A similar analysis of bidder status is made in a tender offer subject only to Regulation 14E. When we analyze who is the bidder, some relevant factors include:

• Did the person play a significant role in initiating, structuring, and negotiating the tender offer?

• Is the person acting together with the named bidder?

• To what extent did or does the person control the terms of the offer?

• Is the person providing financing for the tender offer, or playing a primary role in obtaining financing?

• Does the person control the named bidder, directly or indirectly?

• Did the person form the nominal bidder, or cause it to be formed?, and

• Would the person beneficially own the securities purchased by the named bidder in the tender offer or the assets of the target company?

One or two of these factors may control the determination, depending on the circumstances. These factors are not exclusive.

We also consider whether adding the person as a named bidder means shareholders will receive material information that is not otherwise required under the control person instruction, Instruction C to Schedule TO. However, this issue is not dispositive of bidder status. A person who qualifies as a bidder under Rule 14d-1(c)(1) must be included as a bidder on the Schedule TO even if the disclosure in the Schedule TO will not change as a result. Instruction C elicits information about the control persons of the bidder. Merely disclosing the Instruction C information does not eliminate the requirement that the real bidder sign the Schedule TO and take direct responsibility for the disclosure. Where the real bidder does not sign the Schedule TO and does not provide the required disclosure, the parties run the risk of having to extend the offer to provide a full 20 business day period for shareholders to consider the new information.

If a named bidder is an established entity with substantive operations and assets apart from those related to the offer, the staff ordinarily will not go further up the chain of ownership to analyze whether that entity's control persons are bidders. However, it still would be possible for other parties involved with the offer to be co-bidders. The factors listed above would be used in the analysis. In addition, we would consider the degree to which the other party acted with the named bidder, and the extent to which the other party benefits from the transaction.

 

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/ci111400ex_tor.htm


Modified: 02/09/2007