Just more than a month after announcing that it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) for $3.8 billion, security products distributor Anixter confirmed in an email to its employees last week that a second bidder has emerged for the company.
The name of the second bidder has not been disclosed but Anixter President and CEO Bill Gavin said in the email that they are “engaged in continuing discussions” with the company.
“We cannot guarantee that the discussions will result in a superior proposal,” wrote Gavin. “At this time, we still have a signed agreement in place with CD&R and are working to consummate the transaction under that agreement.”
The news also comes just weeks after CD&R raised its initial offer from $81 per share to $82.50 per share, increasing the value of the transaction to $3.9 billion overall. In the event a superior proposal is received and accepted, Anixter would be required to pay a $100 million “break-up fee” to CD&R under the terms of the amended agreement.
