Over the past few months, Xerox and HP have been involved in a back-and-forth since the former announced its intention to acquire the latter. Xerox has been relentless in pursuing the takeover, going as far as nominating a slate of candidates to replace the entire Board of Directors at HP in order to move forward with the deal.
However, in light of the events around the COVID-19 infection that"s sweeping the world, the company is no longer moving forward with the takeover attempts. In a press release issued today, Xerox announced that it will no longer be trying to buy HP, since the current conditions are "not conductive" to the company moving forward with the deal.
Last week, HP issued a letter to its shareholders, where it called out Xerox for continuing to pursue the deal despite the uncertain conditions of the market now and in the near future. The letter reiterated that the offer undervalues HP, and that Xerox"s capital structure would pose a risk to HP"s financial stability, with the added instability brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak.
It seems that Xerox listened to reason and dropped its offer for the time being, but in the statement, the company reaffirms its belief in the value of the merger. The letter also thanks both Xerox and HP shareholders, as well as the company"s advisors and the banks that were willing to commit financing to complete the deal. It remains to be seen if Xerox will come back with a new offer at some point in the future.