Psion shareholders are revolting

Symbian stake is family silver

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 8th March 2004 10:50 GMT

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Psion's sale of its stake in Symbian to Nokia could be stopped by angry shareholders who remain unconvinced that the sale is a good deal for the business.

One institutional investor, Phoenix Asset Management, which owns 13 per cent of the company, has already said it will vote against the proposed sale.

David Sharman is a spokesman for the growing band of disillusioned private investors. He and other investors met Psion chairman David Potter and directors on Friday, but still believes the deal should not go through.

He said: "The company has only looked at a small subset of possible options and has taken the approach of a highly risk averse investor."

"We still say vote no, there are better ways of realising the value of Symbian and we believe the numbers are in our favour not the board's."

Sharman believes 95 per cent of Psion's private investors will vote against the deal. He said Psion is unusual because half the company is in private hands rather than 5-10 per cent. He believes Psion shareholders are very knowledgable and understand that the shares are relatively high risk.

Psion says the majority of proxy votes it has already received are voting in favour.

The disgruntled shareholders are gathering online at http://www.pssion.com®