West Point-Pepperell Inc. Wednesday announced a Feb. 15 deadline for the submission of bids to buy the company.
The textile company, based in West Point, Ga., also said it had agreed with Farley Inc., which currently is the only bidder, to postpone until March 2 a special shareholders meeting that had been scheduled for Feb. 25.
Neither company would comment on the agreement.
Farley requested the shareholder meeting to challenge Pepperell management for seats on the company`s board.
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If Pepperell reaches a merger agreement with Farley or another buyer, the proxy fight likely would not take place, however.
Farley, a Chicago-based conglomerate headed by William Farley, has been pursuing Pepperell since October. Pepperell firmly has rejected both Farley`s original $48-a-share bid and its sweetened offer of $52-a-share made last month.
But last week Pepperell invited other bids, effectively putting the company up for sale. Pepperell`s stock closed Wednesday at $55.37, up 25 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Analysts cautioned there is still time for another bidder to surface.
”It`s not a done deal at all. There are several more days for another bidder to show up, and I wouldn`t discount the possibility of management coming up with their own bid,” said Josie Esquivel, an analyst with Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc.
Pepperell, which has resisted the takeover attempt since October, had to make some response to Farley before the shareholder meeting, she said.
”The board had to do something. They can`t go into that proxy fight without showing that they`d done something for the shareholders or else they`d lose the company and be liable for a lot of shareholder lawsuits, too,” she said.
Pepperell has said it has given confidential information to interested third parties, but there have been no firm indications so far that a rival bid is imminent.
Farley has said that on the basis of confidential information received from Pepperell, he may no longer have to sell off parts of the company as he originally said he would do if his bid succeeds.