The development has the blessing of activist investor Elliott Management, according to the website Benzinga. Elliott owns 8.7% of Juniper and has encouraged the company to look for ways boost shareholder value through restructurings and product portfolio rationalization.
Juniper did reorganize last year at the urging of Elliott after multiple quarters of lackluster performance.
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Benzinga reports that Juniper is seeking $32 per share to go private. The company’s stock stood at $29.26 as of 1pm EST Friday, Oct. 9. Juniper has 384.43 million shares outstanding, making the value of the deal $12.3 billion, $1 billion more than the company’s market capitalization.
Juniper says it doesn’t comment on “rumor and speculation.”
Juniper has been a publicly traded company since 1999. Going private, like Dell, Riverbed, BMC and Blue Coat have done, would allow the company to create financial gain for shareholders while freeing it up from the regulatory and reporting requirements of public companies.
As such, private companies can conduct and focus on business without the scrutiny, critique and pressure of Wall Street and shareholders.