Investor Group Seeks Buyout of Safeguard

Safeguard Health Enterprises, an Anaheim dental care services company, said it has become the target of an unsolicited buyout bid at $10 a share, or about $58 million.

The offer came from a Safeguard Health Enterprises shareholder who informed the company last week that an investor group he represents has lined up financing for the proposed transaction.

Company spokesman Ronald Brendzel said Monday that the company was neither in a position to comment on the proposed transaction nor identify the takeover group until it reviews the proposal more carefully.

The $10-a-share offer is about twice the company’s market value, based on Safeguard Health Services’ share price before the announcement of the proposed buyout.

Kenneth Abramowitz, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, said the company, which experienced losses in recent years, is undervalued at current prices.

“The company has been doing well, with consistent earnings growth. They’ve turned it around, but the stock hasn’t been reflecting that,” he said.