Microvision Inc (MVIS)

[gnillish_00]

I'm inclined to believe a buyout is in the works actually.

This is the first batch of buyout rumors that actually has management support. Early spring they announced they were looking at strategic alternatives including the possibility of selling all or part of the company. They followed up by retaining Craig Hallum to assist with the M&A process. Late spring they said that with the help of Craig Hallum they had reached out to a large number of potential partners and had received many favorable responses and expected to be at the table in discussions in early August. In early August they disclosed that there were multiple tier 1 OEMs that were in various stages of the diligence process. They then scheduled a special meeting for October 8th and a proxy vote on authorizing 60 million shares to potentially be used for a minority owner stake as part of a merger deal.

The timing and wording of the proxy is basically a giant billboard by Sharma and the Board of Directors telling interested parties that they expect something tangible on the table by early October to keep the process on track. Extrapolating from what we know, we will hopefully get some sort of new just before or at the special meeting on October 8th indicating that they are reviewing offers from more than one company and are narrowing the field and entering into final talk. That would be followed by news of an agreement maybe as early as late October.

The fact that Craig Hallum is still engaged further suggests that the process is on track and they believe a deal will be made. They don't get the real payday unless they broker a successful deal -- sort of like a real estate agent who typically doesn't get paid unless the deal goes through.

We are also seeing increasing institutional buying with holdings topping 16 million shares as of last week.

It is pretty clear that a deal is in the works. What we don't know is with who, and for how much. The only guidance is Sharma making a comment that they believe the value of the company is in the billions with an S and the credible rumor that management had rejected an offer thought to be about 500 million (roughly $3.50/share). At $7/billion it doesn't take many billions to make this look like a good bet that should pay off before the end of the year.

Some additional reading if you are interested:
https://fintel.io/so/us/mvis -- info on institutional investors
https://www.reddit.com/r/MVIS/ -- some excellent research and analysis, but takes some digging