Investors Revolt at Towers Watson

One of my frustrations with modern finance is the way shareholders have been pushed to the side. The job of the board of directors is to serve their interests but you wouldn’t know that by looking at a lot of deals. That’s why I was glad to see the recent shareholder revolt at Towers Watson (TW).

In June, Willis Group holdings said it would merge with TW. The combined entity would be worth $18 billion. But it was a terrible deal for TW shareholders. When you added up the cash and shares, TW shareholders would actually be getting a 9% discount for their shares. The whole point of a merger is to pay a premium.

Shareholders struck back and this week, they voted down the deal. Good for them. TW has been an impressive company over the past few years. Now Willis and TW have sweetened the deal, but not by much. I hope this new offer gets shot down as well.

Posted by on November 20th, 2015 at 1:27 pm


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