Westlake Chemical Corp. and its $1.03B takeover target Georgia Gulf Corp. have brought in financial PR counsel as the companies maneuver through Georgia’s rejection of the overture as “financially inadequate.”
Atlanta-based Georgia Gulf, a large vinyl construction product maker, has hired Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher and the shareholder relations firm Innisfree M&A Incorporated as it fends off Westlake’s $30-per-share, unsolicited pursuit.
GGC president and CEO Paul Carrico dismissed the bid as “an opportunistic attempt” to grab his company’s assets as it recovers from “an unprecedented downturn in the industries we serve and a volatile public equity market.” GGC has also adopted a so-called “poison pill” shareholder rights plan, drawing the ire of Westlake.
Westlake, a resin and pipe producer, is working with Sard Verbinnen & Co. and IR firm MacKenzie Partners as it blasts the Georgia Gulf board for blocking the deal. “Georgia Gulf’s Board is once again standing in the way of its shareholders receiving immediate value and a substantial premium,” the company said in a statement.
Dahlman Rose & Co. analyst Charles Neivert told Bloomberg that Georgia Gulf is worth $45-50 a share.