Ritchie founder perfects disappointed dad routine

RB Global

13/03/2023 19:46

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are their own.)
       NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Forget the
investors who have been vocally against Ritchie Bros
Auctioneers’  RBA.TO  $7 billion acquisition of salvage-yard
operator IAA  IAA.N , or the proxy advisory firms that lambasted
it, or the 20% stock plunge on its announcement. The company
stretching for its acquisition has done something worse: It
disappointed dad. 
    Ritchie investors are expected to approve the fiercely
contested deal on Tuesday, a surprising outcome, especially to
company co-founder David Ritchie. He, together with another
former executive, came out against the transaction on Monday.
The pair didn’t speak out before because they assumed, given the
weight of opposition to the deal, it was dead. Now, in a
last-ditch attempt, they’re asking shareholders to rescind votes
already cast in favor. 
    The margin is tight. Ritchie, which has hitherto issued
press releases against both major proxy advisory firms and its
own shareholders, today launched one last defense of its deal,
casting its namesake co-founder as long out of touch. By doing
so, boss Ann Fandozzi will hope to be emulating
ex-Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, who overcame family
opposition to merge with Compaq in 2002. If she succeeds,
shareholders better hope her optimistic deal math holds up. (By
Jonathan Guilford)
    Follow @Breakingviews on Twitter
    
    Capital Calls - More concise insights on global finance:
    Mark Zuckerberg takes on Elon Musk  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N35L1ZH 
    Pfizer’s $43 bln deal is a pricey pipeline fix  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N35L3XD 
    HSBC turns Silicon Valley Bank calamity into gold
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N35L364 
    China central bank punts its succession problem  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N35L17Y
    SVB found old concentration risk  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N35I2BS
    

 (Editing by Lauren Silva Laughlin and Amanda Gomez)
 ((SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS https://bit.ly/BVsubscribe
 |))