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Only one day after Cerberus Capital Management LP decided not to buy out Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services after all — for, like, $6.2 billion — ACS’s chairman, Darwin Deason, is demanding the company’s independent directors resign. Immediately. Wrote Deason in a letter dated today, he wants Robert B. Holland III, J. Livingston Kosberg, Dennis McCuistion, Joseph P. O’Neill and Frank A. Rossi to get themselves adiosed immediately. Because:
“The Board has come under increasing shareholder criticism for its failure to consummate a transaction based on the Cerberus offer or present a superior strategic alternative.
Irrespective of the merit of these claims, they clearly demonstrate that the Board has lost the trust and support of the Company’s shareholders. It is in the shareholders’ best interests to provide the Company with new strategic leadership. As the Company’s founder and the Chairman of the Board, I must respectfully ask that you resign today from the Board.”
Helpfully, Deason — who would have been part of the new ownership had the Cerberus deal gone down — has included a list of folks with whom he’d like to replace the existing board. This won’t get ugly at all. –Robert Wilonsky
Update: The five board members resigned, then threw a hissy. Quitters.
