Mosaid CEO John LindgrenTory Zimmerman
Mosaid Technologies Inc. not only acquired a huge new business by winning the role of managing a huge patent portfolio from Nokia, it acquired a big poison pill that will help thwart a hostile bid from Wi-LAN Inc .
The patent deal comes with a clause that says that if Mosaid undergoes a change of control, the patents likely won't go with it. And the Wi-LAN bid would qualify as a change of control, as Mosaid stressed in its press release.
Mosaid has been working on the deal with Nokia since March, well before the Wi-LAN bid, with an eye to closing at this time. The timing could not be better, given the Wi-Lan situation.
Meantime, the company has also been working with bankers from Barclays Capital and GMP Securities on other ways to fend off Wi-LAN.
The market had already said the Wi-LAN bid at $38 was too low by sending Mosaid shares above $40.
The Wi-LAN offer was "clearly" inadequate before the patent transaction, John Lindgren, Mosaid's chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday morning. "It should be obvious now that it is even more so," he said.
This item has been corrected to reflect that the Nokia transaction was scheduled to close at this time no matter what happened with Wi-LAN.