Prodded into action by a monster $2.3 billion buyout offer from Elliott Management last month, software maker Compuware (CPWR.DL) announced Friday a series of moves designed to persuade its shareholders to hold onto their shares.
Specifically, Compuware says it will:
- Initiate an annual dividend payout of $0.50 per share, which works out to a 4.5% yield, beginning in fiscal Q1 2014 (i.e., next quarter).
- Proceed with its IPO of Covisint, and then "fully unlock the value of this business" by spinning off the approximately 80% of its Covisint shares not floated in that offering.
- Initiate a three-year-long cost-reduction program aimed at removing $60 million in expenses from its income statement, boosting profitability in the process.
At the same time as it takes these moves to make owning its stock more attractive to its shareholders, Compuware's board derided Elliott's $11-a-share buyout offer, saying it "significantly undervalues the company."
Elliott's response to the news is not yet in, but Compuware's other shareholders reacted with applause -- bidding the shares up 7.5%, and all the way up to $11.57, or $0.57 above Elliott's bid.
