Burton Increases Offer for Banta

Burton feels the $47 a share offer, a 38 percent premium to Banta’s closing price on August 8, is more than fair value for Banta, which saw its stock price spike. “I assume you realize that if we pull our $47 per share proposal, your stock will go back to the mid-to-low $30 range,” he wrote.

Among Burton’s conclusions was the belief that Banta’s $35 million cost savings plan “is a very weak attempt at fixing a large and growing problem. I believe that Banta needs to at least reduce their fixed costs by tens of millions of dollars to be competitive in today’s print environment.”