NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Diebold said that its acquisition of Global Election Systems, a cash and stock deal valued at $26 million, has been delayed until the first quarter of 2002 to satisfy closing conditions.
The deal calls for Diebold to acquire Global's 23 million outstanding shares at $1.13 1/2 apiece, with 80 percent payable in stock and the remainder in cash. Diebold has already provided Global with $5 million in financing and is producing more than 500 AccuVote-TS touch screen voting terminals for Global under a contract manufacturing agreement.
The acquisition had been scheduled to close by the end of 2001.
According to Diebold, Global's shareholders approved the deal on Oct. 26 but the period during which the orders of the British Columbia court approving the fairness of the transaction could be appealed has expired.
Diebold plans to use the Global acquisition to speed its entry into the U.S. electronic voting machine market, which it earlier said could generate $1.5 to $2 billion in hardware revenue during the next four to five years.
