The new offer puts Bear Stearns' valuation at $2.4 billion, compared to the bargain basement price of $236 million that had been negotiated last Sunday. Trading of Bear Stearns stock immediately reacted to the news: rising 91% to $11.40 by 11 a.m. ET.
Fred Ruffy, an independent market and stock analyst, had pointed to the possibility of a renegotiation of the sales price in an earlier interview with GlobeSt.com. Last week, he notes, shares of Bear Stearns had remained well above the proposed $2-per-share offer. The two popular theories for this were that another bidder might emerge and/or large Bear Stearns stakeholders would not likely to accept the terms of the agreement willingly.
There have been other adjustments to the deal besides the stock price. The Federal Reserve Bank will support $29 billion in Bear Stearns' illiquid assets, as opposed to $30 billion in the first transaction. Also Bear Stearns will issue 95 million new shares--or 39.5% of the outstanding Bear Stearns common stock.
"Our board of directors believes that the amended terms provide both significantly greater value to our shareholders, many of whom are Bear Stearns employees, and enhanced coverage and certainty for our customers, counterparties, and lenders," Alan Schwartz, president and chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, says in a prepared statement. "The substantial share issuance to JPMorgan Chase was a necessary condition to obtain the full set of amended terms, which in turn, were essential to maintaining Bear Stearns' financial stability."
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
