Recently, the full Diebold board completed a detailed strategic review of the company and its prospects. At least three times in the last month, including this morning, the board met to discuss UTCs interest in a potential business combination with the company. Given that Diebold has not filed financial statements since the companys 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, as previously reported, and that the company is working to become current in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the board believes that now is not the right time -- and that it would not be in the best interests of the corporation or its shareholders -- to pursue discussions with UTC.
"The board strongly believes that UTCs proposal significantly undervalues the company and fails to reflect Diebolds strengths and significant upside potential," said John N. Lauer, non-executive chairman of the board for Diebold. "UTCs proposal is an opportunistic attempt to buy Diebold at a time when shareholders do not have sufficient data to evaluate the offer and as such, the board believes that it would be irresponsible to engage in discussions with UTC at this time. We are confident that executing on our strategy will create substantially greater value for shareholders than UTCs proposal, and we are working diligently to complete our filings and ensure that our investors can make a fully informed decision. We intend to make the value case to our shareholders directly as soon as we are able."
For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.
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