The investor group that has proposed taking AmTrust Financial Services Inc. private will meet with activist investor Carl Icahn to discuss the deal's future after an assessment indicated that the transaction did not garner enough minority support to move forward.
A preliminary survey by the company's proxy solicitor showed that AmTrust apparently did have enough votes to adopt the deal under Delaware state law, but it failed to earn support from a majority of minority stockholders, which it needed to satisfy all the terms of the merger agreement.
The family of CEO Barry Zyskind, George Karfunkel and Leah Karfunkel, who are part of the investor group, will meet with Icahn to see if they can gain the necessary backing for the merger agreement. AmTrust in a press release said the Karfunkel-Zyskind family cannot assure that the parties will reach agreement.
The Karfunkel-Zyskind family, along with Stone Point Capital LLC, have proposed buying the 45% of the company's outstanding shares the family does not own. The agreement requires support from a majority of those shares. Icahn has led a proxy battle against the deal, saying that he does not believe its terms are fair to minority shareholders.
AmTrust adjourned a previously scheduled special shareholder meeting to adopt the transaction. The company plans to reconvene that meeting on June 21.
