Psion's biggest shareholder pans Symbian sale
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Phoenix Asset Management Partners is urging other shareholders to voteagainst the plan next week. Phoenix argues that Psion, which has a $250 million stake in Symbian, should instead push for apotentially lucrative initial public offering of Symbian.
Phoenix holds 56 million shares, or about 13.1 percent of Psion, which is a U.K.-based handheld computer maker. Psion Chairman David Potter holds the second-largest stake, with 12 percent of the company, and haspromised to vote in favor of the deal. Phoenix is the first bigshareholder to announce its opposition, although others have criticizedthe move.
Psion is planning to
The sale would be a shift away from Psion's roots. The company created the software that forms the basis for the Symbian operating system. The sale could also damage Symbian's credibility in the mobile-phone world by making it at least appear to be a pawn of Nokia, according to some industry observers.
For some Psion shareholders, the concern is that Psion will gain an immediate influx of cash at the expense of a far more lucrative IPO later on. Phoenix pointed out that shipments of Symbian-powered phones more than tripled to 6.67 million devices in 2003, with more than 1 million shipping in December.
In a statement responding to Phoenix, Psion noted that an IPO would require the approval of all Symbian shareholders and warned that there was an increasing divergence of interest between Symbian shareholders that are also Symbian customers, such as Nokia, and those that are not, such as Psion.
Shareholders are scheduled vote on the sale on March 12.
Matthew Broersma of ZDNet UK reported from London.
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