Orbis Fund Management, which owns around 10% of Océ, has said that it will not sell its equity at the current price offered by Canon.
The move comes as a surprise considering the 70% premium on the share price offered by Canon, widely seen as a high offer made in order to deter a counter bid from rival Konica Minolta.
Under Dutch law, 85% of the shareholding must accept the deal, although Orbis's hopes of encouraging more shareholders to demand a higher offer have been dashed by a statement from Konica Minolta, which yesterday said that the company has "no intention" of launching a counter bid.
However, Canon today gave notice to the AFM (Dutch Authority Financial Markets) that it has already acquired through market purchases a number of ordinary shares representing approximately 16.9% of Océ's total issued share capital. These ordinary shares were acquired by Canon at an average price of €8.542 (with € 8.56 as the highest price paid) and represent approximately 21.3% of the total ordinary shares.
In a statement released today, Orbis said that the decision to recommend the deal to shareholders came "as a result of a flawed negotiation process", adding that the offer "significantly undervalued Océ's assets at the proposed buyout price".
However, Océ countered the statement and said that the envisaged transaction is the result of an "extensive process", adding that it had been "in frequent contact with all relevant industry players, and has considered and discussed various transaction forms, all in the best interest of its shareholders and other stakeholders".
Orbis has a history of opposing deals for companies in which it has a shareholding, famously forcing Citigroup to increase its offer for Japanese broker Nikko Cordial in 2007.
However, the current challenge is unlikely to open the door to a counter bid by another manufacturer and as such is unlikely to persuade Canon to raise its offer.
Canon is yet to make a further statement on the challenge.
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