Cerberus drops $6.2B ACS bid

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Cerberus Capital Management LP dropped its $6.2 billion offer for Affiliated Computer Services Inc. Tuesday, the U.S. private-equity firm said in a letter.

The end came amid shareholder irritation over how ACS directors handled the $62-a-share approach, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"We regret that we must withdraw our offer to acquire the company due to the continuation of poor conditions in the debt markets," the Cerberus letter to an ACS board committee said.

An ACS representative had no immediate comment Tuesday evening.

Cerberus made its first offer to ACS -- a Dallas Fortune 500 company that provides technology outsourcing -- March 20, in conjunction with ACS founder and Chairman Darwin Deason, who controls about 2 percent of ACS shares.

But the process got bogged down in the credit-market downturn, especially as financing became harder for Cerberus and Deason to secure, the Journal said.

Cerberus blamed ACS board foot-dragging for the souring, saying in its letter it was "confident" its offer "would have been approved and closed" if the board committee had not tried to find a better deal elsewhere, even as the debt market deteriorated.

Disgruntled shareholder Marc Baylin, portfolio manager at Oppenheimer Funds -- a 7 percent ACS shareholder -- said "by not accepting the deal, they basically lost their chance" to get a price for shareholders.