Volante names advisors on Commander bid

In a letter to shareholders, Volante said it had appointed Macquarie as financial advisor and Deacons as legal advisor to help the company's directors "in evaluating and responding to the conditional, hostile offer from Commander".

Volante reiterated earlier advice to shareholders that they take no action in relation to the cash offer by Commander until the ICT company's board issues a recommendation.

The board plans to meet mid-next week and "expect[s] to be able to provide a further update to shareholders following that meeting," the company said.

Commander's managing director, Adrian Coote, said when announcing the offer on 23 December it "provides [Volante] shareholders with the certainty of cash in exchange for an uncertain future.

"Strategies employed by Volante have failed to deliver the shareholder returns expected, with earnings per share deteriorating in all but one year since 2001 and the return on shareholders' equity deteriorating by 72 percent over the same period," he said. "Further, the share price has, in fact, declined by 48 percent since 12 January 2005".

He said a recent profit downgrade "is reflective of the continued poor performance of the company".

Coote has told wire services the companies had complementary data hardware and managed outsourcing businesses, but Volante handled much bigger clients.