Bird boosts its stake to 5.39% as CM.com rejects €165.8M ‘unsolicited’ takeover bid

Bird increases its CM.com stake above 5% after announcing a €5.16-per-share offer, but CM.com’s board rejects the €166M bid as too low.

A couple of days back, Amsterdam unicorn Bird announced its intention to acquire CM.com through an all-cash public offer of €5.16 per share. 

The very proposal valued the Dutch conversational commerce company at €165.8M.

However, on November 7th, Friday, the Management Board and Supervisory Board of CM.com have rejected Bird’s proposal regarding the acquisition.

Proposal lacks long-term value

The Management Board and the Supervisory Board indicated that Bird’s letter failed to provide tangible or material long-term value for CM.com’s clients, employees, and shareholders.

Jacques van den Broek, Chair of the Supervisory Board, says, “Following the unsolicited approach, we reviewed the proposal in line with our fiduciary duties. In particular, we considered whether the proposal was in the best interest of CM.com compared with CM.com’s stand-alone strategy and believe this does not contribute to the sustainable success of the business.” 

As a result, the Boards have unanimously concluded that the financial terms of the proposal, implying a valuation of approximately €166M, fail to reflect the current and future value of CM.com. 

Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO, says,  “We are pursuing a clear path to drive profitable growth as set out at our Capital Markets Day in May of this year. While we acknowledge the interest expressed by Bird and appreciate the recognition of our business and growth strategy, we remain confident in our ability to deliver on this strategy and realise superior value for all our stakeholders.” 

According to CM.com, they will continue to focus on executing their strategy, serving their customer base and building on their strong technology platform. 

Bird increases stake in CM.com

The announcement comes a day after Bird and its affiliates purchased 100,000 ordinary shares of CM.com at an average price of €5.033 per share, on November 6th, Thursday. 

The highest price paid on the same day was €5.07 per share, the Dutch company said in a press release.  

This acquisition represents 0.31 per cent of CM.com’s issued and outstanding shares.

With this purchase, Bird and its affiliates now hold a total of 1,732,444 shares, amounting to approximately 5.39 per cent of the company’s total share count.

CM.com: Connects people and businesses

Founded in 1999 by Jeroen van Glabbeek and Gilbert Gooijer, CM.com connects people and businesses via telecom operators, worldwide payment providers, and messaging channels.

The company offers solutions needed for mobile engagement and interaction with its target audience.

It includes SMS, Over The Top (OTT) (e.g. WhatsApp Business, Apple Business Chat, Google RCS, Facebook Messenger, and Viber), Voice API, and SIP.

These messaging channels can be combined with cloud platform features like Ticketing, eSignature, Customer Contact, identity services, and a Customer Data Platform.

Bird: Unifies customer data

Bird is a software company that provides a platform that unifies customer data, automates personalised campaigns, and delivers AI-powered customer lifecycle management that drives real revenue growth.

Currently, the company serves approximately 50,000 customers worldwide, and processes nearly 500 billion messages annually across email, SMS, WhatsApp, voice, and other channels.