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Business

Battle For Ferro Heats Up

by Marc S. Reisch
April 29, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 17

The battle to control ailing specialty chemical maker Ferro is getting personal. In a letter to shareholders, Ferro’s board writes that Jeffry N. Quinn, former CEO of Solutia and one of three dissident candidates seeking a spot on Ferro’s board, was rejected as a candidate for the job of Ferro CEO in December. His candidacy for the board is an “end run” to assert control over the company that rejected him, Ferro claims. The company is urging shareholders to vote for three management-endorsed directors. FrontFour Capital Group and Quinn’s Quinpario Partners, both private investment groups, separately wrote a letter to shareholders urging them to vote for Quinn and two other candidates. The group accused the current board of repeated failures in strategy and shareholder value creation. Separately, A. Schulman, the plastics compounding firm whose offer to buy Ferro was rejected earlier this year, is calling on Ferro to engage in “serious” negotiations that would lead to a Schulman takeover. Ferro calls Schulman’s earlier $855 million bid a “lowball” offer.

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