Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has warned its shareholders not to accept an offer by Canadian organization TRC Capital Corp. to purchase 3.4% of the company's common stock at a price below market and book value.
Cooper has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to review the offer for potential violations of the law.
Richard Teeple, Cooper's vice president and general counsel, feels the offer is of a type that the SEC has said is increasingly used to catch investors off guard, making them assume the price is at a premium to the market price when, in fact, the purpose of the offer is to acquire shares at bargain prices, without regard to shareholder interests.
