Romi makes offer direct to Hardinge shareholders

In response, the board of Hardinge Inc has advised shareholders to take no action before it has fully considered the offer, in line with its fiduciary duty to shareholders. A statement from the company said: "The company will send to its shareholders [within 10 days from the offer date of 30 March] a solicitation/ recommendation statement describing the reasons for the Board's position and recommendation. Shareholders are urged to read the solicitation/recommendation statement when it becomes available because it will contain important information." On making the offer, Livaldo Aguiar dos Santos, chief executive officer of Romi said: "It is unfortunate that the Hardinge Board continues to reject our $8/share, all-cash offer, made on the basis of publicly available information. Instead, Hardinge seems to be more focused on erecting further barriers that deny shareholders the significant premium and immediate liquidity our offer would provide. The continuing refusal to allow us to conduct due diligence and discuss our compelling all-cash offer has left us no alternative but to take the offer directly to Hardinge shareholders." Romi's offer price is a premium of 46% to Hardinge's closing share price on Feb 3, 2010, the last trading day prior to the public disclosure of Romi's offer to Hardinge's board, and a premium of over 63% to its closing share price on December 14, 2009, when Romi first formally communicated its interest to Hardinge. See previous stories here and here