Tender Offer

Tender offer

General offer made publicly and directly to a firm's shareholders to buy their stock at a price well above the current value market price.

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Tender Offer

An offer to buy some or most of the stock in a publicly-traded company directly from shareholders for a price well above fair market value. A tender offer may be made by the company's management in a bid to prevent a hostile takeover. Alternatively, it may be a made by an outside company as part of a hostile takeover. See also: Self-Tender Offer.

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tender offer

An offer made directly to stockholders to purchase or trade for their securities. A tender offer often contains restrictions such as the minimum number of shares required to be tendered for the offer to be effective or the maximum number of tendered shares that will be accepted. A tender offer may be made by a firm to its own shareholders to reduce the number of outstanding shares, or it may be made by an outsider wishing to obtain control of the firm. Compare hostile tender offer. See also creeping tender offer, exclusionary tender offer, mini-tender offer, partial tender offer, self-tender, two-tier tender offer, Williams Act.

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Tender offer. When a corporation or other investor offers to buy a large portion of outstanding shares of another company, called the target company, at a price higher than the market price, it is called a tender offer.

The tender is usually part of a bid to take over the target company. Current stockholders, individually or as a group, can accept or reject the offer.

If the tender offer is successful and the corporation accumulates 5% or more of another company, it has to report its holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the target company, and the exchange or market on which the target company's shares are traded.