Geoeye Inc. Com (GEOY)

[johnsyn]

May 4 (Reuters) - Satellite imagery company GeoEye Inc on Friday offered to buy rival DigitalGlobe Inc for $792 million in cash and stock after merger talks aimed at unleashing "sizeable" synergies between the two companies broke down. DigitalGlobe said its board of directors would carefully review and consider the unsolicited $17-per-share proposal - a 26 percent premium to the stock's close on Thursday, GeoEye's chief executive, Matt O'Connell, told Reuters that DigitalGlobe had rejected the offer for now, preferring to "wait and see" what happened with government orders while GeoEye favored a more "proactive" approach. He said it was premature to talk about GeoEye sweetening the deal, but noted that his company's proposal was not a "final, binding offer" and GeoEye could restructure it as an all-cash offer, or reduce the cash component. "There's a lot of value here. There's room for us to make a deal that benefits both parties," (Thomson Reuters 01:36 PM ET 05/04/2012)