News

NCR said to have 'pulled the plug' on selling

A source 'with direct knowledge' about buyout negotiations says a bid on the table has fallen through and buyout consideration is at an end for the ATM-maker.

July 30, 2015

Thoma Bravo, the private financial equity company rumored to have brought an offer to buy NCR Corp. over the weekend, is now rumored to have abandoned its bid, according to report by the New York Post.

A source "with direct knowledge" of the situation told the Post that the two parties were unable to arrive at an agreement on price during weekend negotiations. Thoma Bravo was said to have offered $9 billion for NCR, $1 billion short of the company's asking price.

Previous reports said that the bidding window for the ATM-maker closed last Friday. Without another proposal on the table, NCR has "pulled the plug" on the idea of a full sale of the company, the Post reported the source as saying.

Company chairman, president and CEO Bill Nuti told analysts during an earnings call Tuesday that a buyout was just one of many options being considered in a "strategic review" by the NCR board:

[O]n prior calls I've talked about the full range of strategic alternatives that we as a board routinely look at, everything from returning capital to shareholders in the forms of dividends or buybacks, to divestitures of businesses that are noncore, to spinoff alternatives of businesses that are also noncore, to a full sale of the company, to a host of other items. So I would say that as a board, annually, we do a really good job of looking at everything ... And we've been particularly diligent this year around all of them, and ... we should be concluding that process shortly.

Activist investor Jana Partners has been calling for a sale of the company, according to numerous reports. With a Thoma Bravo deal off, NCR shares dropped nearly 11 percent this morning, after a rise of 4.5 percent following the company's earnings call Tuesday afternoon.