WINDSOR LOCKS, CT - The top executives of Dexter Corp. and International Specialty Products (ISP) continued to clash over ISP's proposed hostile takeover of Dexter, as ISP's CEO Samuel J. Heyman indicated that ISP will seek to elect 10 Dexter board members who will back a sale of Dexter to ISP or seek "a superior proposal." Dexter's board earlier rejected ISP's offer to acquire Dexter for $45 per share, or approximately $934 million.
Heyman said that at Dexter's annual meeting in April, ISP will seek to expand the size of Dexter's board from 10 to 17 members, and also will propose the removal of Dexter's "poison pill" defense against a hostile takeover. ISP also has filed suit in federal court in Connecticut to invalidate the poison-pill defense.