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The intended acquisition of HP by Xerox was paused by the latter. However, the group does offer HP shareholders a high fee for handing over shares. In times of crisis due to the corona virus, HP calls on its shareholders to disregard the offer.

While HP has declined all of Xerox‘s offers, Xerox has actively sought direct contact with shareholders early this month. With $24.00 per share (or $18.40 and 0.149 Xerox shares), the company hoped to gain more control of HP without deflections to every offer.

Despite the fact that HP’s entire board of directors supported the company’s decision to reject all of Xerox’s bids, it stresses the importance of not going overboard during this virus crisis:

“It is our belief that we should not devote time, attention and financial resources to a dialogue with Xerox about the intended acquisition. In the current economic situation, any complex and large acquisition could have tragic consequences for HP, its shareholders and our entire business. While we are open-minded about any acquisition as an opportunity to become more valuable to HP shareholders, it must be done on the right terms and at the right time. Clearly, this is not the case now.”

HP believes that it is open to a takeover on the right terms, but has regularly stated that Xerox’s bids were absolutely not. Instead, at the beginning of this year, HP came up with a three-year plan that should provide a significant increase in shareholder revenue. Sixteen billion more should come in between 2020 and 2022. A plan whose revenues may be somewhat lower in the light of the coronavirus outbreak.