US vendor Motorola is seeking approval from its shareholders for a reverse stock split in the first quarter, following its restructuring into two separate entities.
The company outlined a reverse split ratio ranging from between 1 for 3 and 1 for 7…
US vendor Motorola is seeking approval from its shareholders for a reverse stock split in the first quarter, following its restructuring into two separate entities.
The company outlined a reverse split ratio ranging from between 1 for 3 and 1 for 7 shares for Motorola Solutions – the part of the present company that includes its enterprise mobility business. The move would involve a corresponding decrease in the number of authorized shares of Motorola common stock.
The details were outline in an SEC filing.
Motorola, which is separating its mobile and set-top box businesses from its enterprise mobility business, said the proposal is based on an expectation that Motorola Solutions’ share price will not reflect its full value after the split-up.
It said it expects the move to improve the liquidity of the stock.
Motorola is renaming itself Motorola Solutions after the split-up. The mobile and set-top business will be in a new entity called Motorola Mobility.
It said that the results of the vote would not affect the board’s decision to go ahead with the separation, and that even if shareholders voted in favour of the reverse stock split, the board could still decide not to proceed with that manoeuvre.
At the beginning of August, activist investor Carl Icahn became Motorola’s biggest shareholder. He had long been an advocate of splitting the company into different operating units. In July, Motorola sold its mobile network infrastructure business to European network JV Nokia Siemens Networks for US$1.2bn.
