Cosmos threatens to walk from Cossette offer

http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/agency/article.jsp?content=20090807_162216_7256
Cosmos Capital Inc. has threatened to abandon its bid to purchase Cossette Inc. unless it’s given access to the communication company’s books.

The group lead by former Cossette partners decried the senior management team’s “lackadaisical response” to its July 20 offer, which values the firm at $82.7 million. It set an Aug. 17 ultimatum to gain initial access to the company’s dataroom to conduct due diligence.
“In the event that we are not, we will reassess our price and interest in the transaction,” it wrote in a letter to a special Cossette board committee created to review the offer.

Notwithstanding Cossette’s poor operating and financial performance of late, Cosmos said it is willing to reaffirm its price if it is granted such access.

Cosmos Capital, headed by a former Cossette president Francois Duffar and former Cossette vice-president Georges Morin, has offered $4.95 cash per share, a 52% premium to the July 17 closing price for Cossette shares.

The shares have since risen to $5.15 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.