Apollo returns Crane’s serve for EGL acquisition

Apollo returns CraneÆs serve for EGL acquisition The bidding war for EGL Inc. entered a new round over the weekend as investment group Apollo Management and its CEVA Logistics holding upped their bid for the company to $47.50 per share, topping a late Friday offer of $46.25 per share from a consortium led by Jim Crane, chairman and chief executive officer of EGL Eagle Global Logistics, to acquire the public company and take it private.
   The new bid values the Houston-based freight logistics company at $1.94 billion compared to Crane's $1.89 billion offer.
   EGL said that a special board committee has determined that the CEVA group's offer is superior. The CEVA group also offered to decrease the termination fee payable by EGL to CEVA from $30 million to $20 million if EGL rejects the offer. CEVA said if it terminates the deal due to inability to obtain financing it would pay $40 million instead of $30 million and pay $60 million for 'willful breach' of the proposed merger.
   EGL has given Crane and his partners until the close of business on May 23 to respond with a better offer.
   Crane, EGL's largest shareholder, is teamed with private equity firms Centerbridge Partners and the Woodbridge Co. On Friday, EGL announced it had received a $46.25 per share offer from Crane's group, which also proposed to increase the termination fee payable by either side from $30 million to $40 million. The offer topped an early one from Apollo/CEVA of $46 per share, or about $1.87 billion.
   The battle for the company began in earnest two weeks ago when CEVA offered $43 cash per share, topping an original $38-per-share merger deal with a group led by Crane. If that deal is overturned in favor of the CEVA group, EGL must pay Crane a termination fee.
   CEVA is a large contract logistics company and views Eagle Global Logistics as a complementary piece because its freight forwarding capability would give it a more comprehensive suite of services to offer customers.