Sep. 13, 2012
Kenton J. King
See more on Kenton J. KingSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates Palo Alto Corporate transactions Specialty: mergers and acquisitions
This summer, buyers' interest in Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc. seemed to rise with the temperatures, and King found himself in a bidding war representing Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. in its attempt to buy the IT management software provider.
In early July, after a four-month saga, King's client won the bidding war at $28 per share, up from the starting bid of $23 per share, for a purchase price of $2.4 billion.
As with any process drawn out to this extent - Dell reportedly made earlier bids of $25.50 and $27.50 per share - there was a sense of relief and excitement for King when the deal was finally inked. The best part?
"Signing the agreement," King said. "Getting to yes."
The more than half a dozen purchase offers were complicated by the fact that Quest founder and CEO Vinny Smith owned slightly more than a third of the company.
"That was an interesting deal," said King of the ensuing complications. "The deal had with it a specific road map ... knowing that you've got senior management committed to a deal makes it a little more difficult."
While complex, the transaction was far from his largest. King has been involved in many of the world's largest technology deals, including representing Yahoo Inc. in its deflection of Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $45 billion acquisition proposal; Ascend Communications Inc. in its $20 billion sale to Lucent Technologies Inc.; and Compaq Computer Corp. in its $25 billion merger with Hewlett-Packard Co.
The recent bidding war was King's first work for Dell.
"It was a great opportunity to get to know them," King said. "They are a very sophisticated group. It was very rewarding and interesting to be able to work on a deal of that level of complexity."
King has continued in his leadership roles at Skadden, where he is global co-head of its corporate transactions practice, partner in charge of the Palo Alto office and a member of the firm's top governing body, the policy committee.
King has also worked with company boards on numerous activist shareholder challenges during the past year, including the proxy battle between hedge fund Third Point LLC and Yahoo that started last September with a letter from Third Point calling for a change in Yahoo's leadership.
"Tech companies in general tend to be more structurally vulnerable to this activity," King said.
- ANDREW MCINTYRE
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