Bidding war developing over Zila?

Jul 7, 2009

Will it turn into a bidding war? On June 26, Zila announced that it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by Tolmar Holdings. Now Intelident Solutions has submitted a proposal to Zila's board of directors to acquire all the common stock of Zila for $0.42 per share and the preferred stock for $0.48 per share, for a total of approximately $4.4 million, the company announced.

The proposal represents a premium for common stockholders of more than $418,000, or 10.5%, over the agreement with Tolmar and a premium of 31.3% over Zila's closing common stock price on June 24, 2009, Intelident said. The proposal would also include the purchase of the preferred shares of Zila at a premium of 9.1% over Tolmar's proposal, according to the company.

"The proposed transaction will create a major dental company in the United States, combining Intelident's leadership in dental practice management with Zila's strength and experience in the prevention, detection, and treatment of oral cancer and periodontal disease," said Intelident CEO Thomas Marler in a press release. "This partnership will allow us to introduce a number of new and innovative products while accelerating the growth of the combined enterprise."

As one of Zila's largest customers and one of the largest dental practice management companies in the U.S., Marler added, "we believe we can bring substantial strategic and tactical insight to expanding the sales of Zila's core product lines."