Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cogent Sees Smooth Sailing For Acquisition

Pasadena-based Cogent, the developer of fingerprint and other biometrics devices, reported this morning that a Delaware court has denied a shareholder motion to block the acquisition of the firm by 3M. According to Cogent, the denial of the shareholder motion came because the plaintiffs had not shown a reasonable probability of success on the merits of any of their claims. Cogent said its board continues to "strongly endorse" the proposed acquisition of the company. 3M said August 30th that it would pay $943M, or $430M net of cash, for Cogent. Cogent now said 3M's tender offer for the firm expires at midnight, New York City time, on October 7th, and that it has passed all applicable regulatory waiting periods on the offer.

---