Franklin Mutual Advisers, a unit of money-manager Franklin
Resources Inc., plans to vote in favor of the new Dell deal,
marking a reversal from its prior position, said Peter Langerman,
the chairman, president and chief executive of Franklin Mutual
Advisers in an interview Friday.
"We're not jumping up and down," said Mr. Langerman, who said
Franklin earlier voted against the buyout. "But if the vote were
today or tomorrow, we would say yes."
Franklin Mutual Advisers owns about 10 million shares and was
Dell's 25th largest shareholder as of March 31, according to
FactSet. The unit consists of eight mutual funds with about $60
billion in assets.
Mr. Langerman and his team met with Mr. Dell recently last month
and aired their concerns about the deal and its price, he said. "We
were quite vocal in terms of dissatisfaction with the process and
the price," Mr. Langerman said.
Separately, Donald Yacktman, president of Yacktman Asset
Management, said Friday that he still opposes the Dell buyout.
"From the word go, we've made a statement about where we've
stood and we're not going to change that," said Mr. Yacktman.
Mr. Yacktman, whose firm owns about 14.9 million shares and is
Dell's 16th largest shareholder, also said he's spoken with Mr.
Dell's team in recent weeks.
Write to Kirsten Grind at Kirsten.Grind@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires