GTCR clears last hurdle, close imminent

GTCR, the Chicago private equity group that announced last month it was buying Protection One, announced this week that it settled a couple of shareholder lawsuits over the deal.

They've agreed to pay public shareholders (a group that does not include the majority owners Quadrangle, Monarch and Pro One management) $3.25 million to settle the suits. That works out to 40 cents per shares. They've also agreed to provide shareholders with some additional information.

The payment takes care of two—out of a really staggering number—of lawsuits that were filed almost as soon as the deal was announced.

The suits—namely the so-called Rensch Complaint filed in Delaware and another, the TSF Complaint filed in Kansas—said that Pro One breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders by tendering its shares to the GTCR offer, which immediately satisfied the 60-percent minimum tender offer.

GTCR and the other defendants deny all allegations in the suits.

It would also seem to take care of a final hurdle for GTCR in getting this tender offer done. They've extended the tender offer for two days, from June 2 to June 4. I expect we'll be hearing about the close on or shortly after June 4.

I'll be eager to hear about Tim Whall's plans for Pro One, and he'll likely be free to talk about that after the close. And speaking about Pro One's future, I heard about one high-level ADT executive from the commercial sales side who, in the past few weeks has joined Pro One in a similar capacity.

It'll be interesting to see what's in store for all of Pro One, particularly the commercial operation.