Polaroid Gets Good Response to Tender Offer

Polaroid Corp. said Friday that 58.7 million shares of its stock were tendered in response to its offer to repurchase 16 million shares, a key part of its defense in fending off a hostile takeover attempt by Shamrock Holdings.

The percentage of tendered shares that the instant photography company will buy in the $800-million, $50-a-share offer will be about 27%, the company said. That would include about 1.33 million of the 4.96 million shares that the Shamrock group owns.

Shamrock, a Burbank investment firm owned by the family of Roy E. Disney, was mum Friday about the future of its $3-billion, $45-a-share offer. On Thursday, the Delaware Supreme Court cleared the way for Polaroid to launch its buyback, which traders and analysts believe effectively marks the end of the takeover fight that began eight months ago.

If it fails to buy Polaroid, Shamrock and its partners are still likely to come out ahead. The group will make a pretax profit before expenses of about $26 million on the 1.33 million shares it sells to Polaroid in the tender offer.

Traders and analysts said that the Shamrock group can probably make an additional profit by selling its 3.63 million shares, bought at an average price of $30.85 each, if it decides to scrap its bid. Some analysts estimated that the group ultimately will earn about $40 million before taxes and expenses on its investment. Polaroid shares closed Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange at $40.50.