This site's first posting mentioned I own MCI (MCIP/NASDAQ). It was purchased at $17 a share before CG was launched. I cited the company as an example of the types of investments you'll be reading about here. It was then, and has been since, consistently trading in the mid $20s. MCI was being pursued by Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications.
Yesterday, Qwest officially ended its pursuit of MCI. Qwest Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Notebaert broke this (not entirely unexpected) news to shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Denver.
Earlier this month, MCI all but ended a furious three-month long bidding war by turning down a $9.74 billion takeover offer from Qwest in favor of a $8.44 billion offer from Verizon. It's understandable that MCI would rather be bought by Verizon -- it's financially stronger. But I think that Verizon's bid should at least match that of Qwest. Some of MCI's largest shareholders were encouraging Qwest to persist, and openly criticized MCI accepting a lower bid. I would have voted my shares with those shareholders in any proxy fight.
Yet Notebaert said it would be an increasingly expensive battle that seemed futile.
In all, I'm not getting everything I want, but the portfolio does stand to get a very decent gain on this investment.
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