Crane Makes Hostile $896 Million Offer for Rival Circor

(Bloomberg) -- Crane Co. has made a hostile $896 million offer for Circor International Inc. after an earlier proposal to the rival industrial products manufacturer’s board was rejected this month.

The $45-a-share cash bid is a 47% premium to Monday’s closing price and values Burlington, Massachusetts-based Circor at about $1.7 billion, including debt, Crane said Tuesday in a statement, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report.

Circor shares rose 40% at 1:25 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of about $853 million. Shares of Stamford, Connecticut-based Crane fell 2% to value the company at about $5 billion.

“While we had hoped to complete a transaction privately, the board’s rejection of our proposal without comment or discussion led to our decision to make our proposal known to Circor shareholders,” Crane Chief Executive Officer Max Mitchell said in the statement. “Our proposal provides Circor shareholders with attractive value and certainty compared to the continued uncertainty surrounding Circor’s plans to improve operating performance.”

Circor received the offer on April 30 and rejected because it was too low, Circor said.

"The board of directors unanimously rejected Crane’s proposal and determined that the proposal was highly opportunistic, substantially undervalued Circor and its future prospects, and did not constitute a basis for engaging in further dialogue," the company said in a statement.

Crane, which was founded in 1855 in Chicago to supply valves, fittings and specialty castings, has grown into a $3.3 billion-revenue company providing industrial products ranging from the aerospace and defense and pharmaceutical industries to banknote design and fluid handling.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Aaron Kirchfeld

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