AC3 takes lead over Macquarie Telecom in bidding war to acquire Bulletproof

AC3 has lunged ahead of Macquarie Telecom in the battle to acquire Bulletproof, with the cloud provider announcing it has entered a scheme implementation deed of arrangement with AC3.

Bulletproof’s board unanimously recommended shareholders accept the 15.2 cents-per share offer AC3  first made by AC3’s in January to acquire 100 percent of the company.

The AC3 offer, which values Bulletproof at $24.7 million, tops an 11 cents per-share ($17.9 million) deal being aggressively offered by Macquarie Telecom, which Bulletproof has urged investors to reject.

Outlining its reasoning for the endorsement, Bulletproof stated the new offer represented a 127 percent premium on Bulletproof’s last share price of .067 cents on 20 November last year and a 120 percent increase on its 30-day volume weighted average price of 0.069 cents the same day.

Regarding the announcement, AC3 chief executive Simon Xistouris said discussions with Bulletproof were ongoing. 

"We have a clear growth strategy at AC3 that encompasses organic growth as well as acquisition," he said. 

"Acquisition has been a key part of our growth strategy in recent years, with the acquisition of AC3 from the NSW Government in 2013 and it continues to play an important role in the expansion of our business. We are always looking for options that will complement our existing business and add further value for our customers."

The news comes as Macquarie Telecom's acquisition strategy has become heated, with the company accusing Bulletproof's board of being "misleading", "deceptive", "unbalanced" and "one-sided" in encouraging shareholders to reject its $18 million acquisition offer.

Bulletproof's board in December advised shareholders to turn down a proposed 100 percent takeover by Macquarie Telecom, after an independent expert appointed by Bulletproof to review the offer determined that it was "not fair and not reasonable".

In a statement signed by Macquarie Cloud Services director David Tudehope, MacTel has outlined line by line why it believes Bulletproof is misleading shareholders, including labelling the business as “fundamentally weak” and rejecting suggestions previously made that it had “turned around”.

Macquarie Telecom also refuted Bulletproof's claim to shareholders that the independent board committee directors unanimously recommended investors reject the offer.

"The board has not unanimously rejected the offer. The target’s statement includes the views of only two of the three Bulletproof directors. The contrary views of the co-founder, executive director and largest Bulletproof shareholder, Mr Anthony Woodward, have been omitted," Macquarie Telecom wrote.

Macquarie shares were trading at 15 cents at the time of writing, up 8.9 percent cent on the Wednesday's closing price of 13.5 cents.