Diamond Foods Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. have called off their $1.5 billion deal for Diamond to buy the Pringles brand. Cereal maker Kellogg Co. is swooping and made a $2.7 billion deal to purchase the brand.WILMINGTON, Del. – Attorneys representing shareholders of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group asked a Delaware judge Wednesday to delay a vote on the rental car company’s proposed $1.2 billion acquisition by Hertz Global Holdings so it can try to negotiate a better deal with Avis Budget Group.
Dollar Thrifty shareholders are to vote Sept. 16 on the $1.2 billion cash-and-stock offer Hertz made in April.
This month, Dollar Thrifty, based in Tulsa, Okla., rebuffed a $1.3 billion cash-and-stock counteroffer from Avis, saying the proposal did not include deal-protection measures or adequately address antitrust concerns.
Attorneys for the shareholders claim Dollar Thrifty’s directors have breached their fiduciary duties by rejecting the Avis bid, refusing to negotiate and locking in a deal with Hertz.
“They’ve got a job to do, and their job is to get the best price,” shareholder attorney Stephen Grygiel told Vice Chancellor Leo Strine Jr.
Mitchell Lowenthal, an attorney for Dollar Thrifty, defended the deal with Hertz and said Avis has yet to make a better offer. He denied suggestions that Dollar Thrifty was improperly favoring Hertz, noting that it had walked away from merger discussions three times and gained concessions from Hertz in the most recent talks.
“This was the antithesis of some kind of sweetheart arrangement,” Lowenthal said, adding that Dollar Thrifty has not ruled out another offer from Avis.
Strine said he would issue his ruling sometime before the shareholder meeting.
