Great Wolf Agrees to Sweetened Apollo Takeover Bid
Great Wolf Resorts' board of directors on Friday accepted a sweetened takeover bid from private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.
Apollo increased its offer price to $7.85 per share in cash, from $7 per share in cash, a 12 percent increase.
The offer edged out a bid from competitor KSL Capital Partners, which boosted its own offer for the vacation resort operator yesterday.Apollo initially bid $5 a share to acquire Great Wolf , entering a bidding war with KSL in March.
The new deal raised the termination fee Apollo would receive to $10.47 million from $9.33 million.
Great Wolf's board also announced that it no longer considers KSL's previous offer a superior proposal to Apollo's offer, and does not plan to pursue it any further.
The company urged its shareholders to tender their shares to support the offer and has extended the deadline by which they must do so to May 4 at 9 a.m. EDT. It estimates more than 3 million shares have been tendered so far.
Shares of Great Wolf rose more than 7 percent in early trading, while Apollo shares slid 1 percent.
