Computer security provider Network Associates Inc. on Friday pushed forward with its contested plan to buy the rest of anti-virus software McAfee.com Corp. for about $210 million, a price McAfee"s directors have already rejected as too low.
Network Associates renewed the bid three days after it delayed the offer and disclosed its fiscal 2000 accounting practices were being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We wanted to give the market the opportunity to absorb the information before going ahead with the offer," Steve Richards, chief financial officer at Santa Clara, California-based Network Associates, told Reuters. "There"s no certainty when the SEC will commence the questioning or conclude the questioning. It could go on for quite some time."
The renewed offer, which is due to expire at midnight April 25, would give McAfee.com shareholders 0.675 shares of Network Associates common stock for each outstanding Class A McAfee share.
McAfee.com"s board has 10 business days to file their position with the SEC, Richards said.
In a statement later on Friday, McAfee.com said it would make a recommendation on the offer no later than April 11, and urged shareholders to "take no action at this time."
If the tender offer and merger are completed, McAfee.com would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Network Associates and McAfee.com shares will no longer trade publicly.