Brencourt to vote against One Equity Partners' offer for Vertrue

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., May 23 - Vertrue Inc. investor Brencourt Advisors, LLC, with a 9.66% stake in the company, expressed dissatisfaction with the $48.50 offer price for Vertrue from the One Equity Partners-led consortium, according to a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As a result, the investor plans to vote against the deal, despite being a strong supporter of Vertrue and its management.

"We believe that the current offer significantly undervalues the strong growth that Vertrue is experiencing and is a sub-optimal alternative to other strategies that deliver superior shareholder value," Brencourt's chief executive officer William L. Collins wrote in a letter to Vertrue president Gary A. Johnson and included in the SEC filing.

Instead of accepting a "low ball" offer, Brencourt believes the board should reconsider its recommendation of the One Equity offer and "re-visit a leveraged recapitalization of Vertrue's balance sheet" and use those proceeds to fund a special dividend to shareholders.

In the letter, the investor cited Affinion's experience in the debt markets as a directly relevant example for Vertrue. In January, Affinion relevered its balance sheet to 6.4x and used the $350 million of proceeds to buy back preferred debt.

Vertrue is a Norwalk, Conn., internet direct marketing services company.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.