Florida investment firm offers to buy Anaren

DeWITT — Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) has received a purchase offer from one of its investors, according to a document filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Vintage Capital Management, LLC of Orlando, Fla., which already owns just over one-eighth of the company, has offered “to acquire Anaren in an all cash transaction for $23 per share,” according to the letter submitted with the SEC filing.

Vintage Capital Management owns about 13 percent of Anaren’s common stock, according to the letter.

The Vintage offer was filed a week after another investor, Discovery Group I, LLC of Chicago, Ill., suggested that Anaren pursue “multiple parties interested in acquiring the company,” according to a letter submitted in an April 8 SEC filing.

In its letter, Discovery also said it believes “the Anaren directors have failed to fulfill their duty to shareholders by translating that high degree of strategic interest into an improvement in shareholder value through the vigorous pursuit of a sale of the company at a substantial premium.”

Discovery manages a fund that owns about six percent of Anaren, according to the filing.

Anaren’s stock price jumped 15 percent on Tuesday, the first day of trading after the Vintage offer became public. The stock was unchanged Wednesday, closing at $22.55.

Before Tuesday’s move, Anaren had mostly traded in a range between $18 and $20 a share over the last year.

The company will release its fiscal third-quarter financial results following the market close on April 23.

DeWitt–based Anaren employs about 800 people. The company develops and manufactures components and subsystems for markets including satellite communications, defense, and wireless communications.

Besides the Syracuse area, Anaren has locations in New Hampshire, Colorado, and China.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com