Ryerson's lackluster deal

Posted Jul 24th 2007 2:20PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Private Equity

In February, Ryerson (NYSE: RYI) announced that it retained UBS Investment Bank (NYSE: UBS) to explore "strategic alternatives." Yes, Wall Street interpreted this as the prelude to a leveraged buyout.

As a result, the shares of Ryerson, which is a major distributor of metals, increased from $30 to $44.

Well, today we got the details of the deal. The price tag? $34.50. The buyer is private equity firm, Platinum Equity.

What's more, to market the deal, UBS contacted more than 50 prospective acquirers.

Interestingly enough, Ryerson has been the target of activist hedge fund, Harbinger Capital. The firm was able to elect a majority of board members to Ryerson and it was enough pressure to get a deal done.

So far today, the shares of Ryerson are down $0.99 to $33.97.

If you want to see some more M&A transactions, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: Harbinger Capital, HarbingerCapital, Platinum Equity, PlatinumEquity, Ryerson, RYI, UBS