Irvine’s Datum Rejects Firm’s Buyout Offer

Datum Inc., an Irvine maker of timing and frequency products for telecommunications industry, said Monday that its directors have rejected an unsolicited bid to buy the company for cash and stock worth $51.7 million.

Datum said in a news release that Frequency Electronics Inc. in Mitchel Field, N.Y., offered, in a Sept. 26 letter, to buy Datum for $2 in cash and one share of Frequency stock for every Datum share.

Instead, Datum said it will continue with plans to merge with Symmetricom Inc., which it said would provide a better strategic fit. The San Jose company would exchange nearly 2.8 of its shares for each share of Datum, a deal worth $97 million in May when it was announced but now worth $79.4 million.

In 1999, Datum turned down an unsolicited bid from Frequency, which had offered $10 in cash and 1.06 shares of Frequency for each Datum share.

In Nasdaq trading Monday, Datum stock gained 1 cent to close at $7.20 a share, though it hit its 52-week low of $6.68 a share during trading. Symmetricom gained 15 cents to $2.60. Frequency lost 26 cents to close at $6.2O on the American Stock Exchange.