Tony Atata (International)
When Korry Gibbons placed an order for two Daiatsu-Catapiller Lavamovers, she never expected her small construction firm to become the center of an international bidding war. The Catholic Cathedral Company earned a reputation for building stable structures in not-so-stable locations, most famously the Redmond Center Mall, Sydney Stormcenter and Tarislar City Apts. When they won a contact to build a new Perfecto Textile factory in Puyallup's Hell's Kitchen to utilize the natural geothermal power of the area, they knew they'd need some specialized equipment to meet the challenges. Daiatsu, Inc. was the natural choice, given their machines were field tested in the tragic Ring of Fire disaster of last decade. (Gaeatronics has been subcontracted to build the geothermal systems.)
Shibata learned of the sale through their close connections with Daiatsu, and was impressed that such a microscopic multinational would take on such an ambitious endeavor. "It wasn't the sale of Lavamovers, but the scale of their proposal that piqued our interest," said Takako Shibata in his initial bid to buy the company and bring it under the Shibata Construction and Engineering (SCE) umbrella. "The proven expertise, adventurous business model, and, importantly, its trustworthy reputation make the Catholic Cathedral Company a perfect match for Shibata."
Stocks of both companies rose following the initial bid, but it wasn't long before other companies expressed interest in acquisition or merger. First, Seattle's own Glitter & Gold Architecture upped Shibata's opening offer by ten cents. Then Evo weighed in with another eight.
CEO Korry Gibbons has expressed a desire to stay independent to keep a diverse market base, and with the Catholic Cathedral Company having a poisoned pill charter, there's no single entity who can control the board of directors - meaning all these bidders are appealing straight to the thousands of shareholders out there to sell their stocks. After few more corporate takeover offers came in, analysts started to wonder if the CCC was worth the 3.09 per share. Shibata must have thought so, having now offered 3.12 per share. No follow up bids since then.
Shareholders are expected to meet this month to vote on the takeover bid, with most experts expecting them to accept the tremendous offer. For a company rated 2.64 at the bidding's onset, shareholders must be ecstatic at the outcome. The SEC is trading down 1.1% this morning at 73.15 a share, and the CCC is locked at 3.09 until the vote.
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