Navient rejects $3.2 billion takeover bid from Canyon Capital and Platinum Equity

By Liana B. Baker

(Reuters) - Student-loan servicer Navient Corp has rejected a $3.2 billion takeover bid from two investors as it believes the offer undervalues the company.

Navient’s board voted on Monday to reject the $12.50 per share offer from hedge fund Canyon Capital Advisors LLC and private-equity firm Platinum Equity Advisors LLC.

The offer represents a 6.6 percent premium over Navient’s Friday closing price of $11.73 a share.

The $12.50 per share offer was surprisingly lower than the $14 to $15 informal price range Canyon's advisers had given Navient during talks, Navient's chairman, William Diefenderfer, said in a statement.

The Wilmington, Delaware-based company recently ran into trouble with regulators over its business practices.

The company was accused by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of cheating hundreds of thousands of borrowers out of loan relief, telling a federal court the bureau did not identify even one such borrower. (https://reut.rs/2NbHR0m)

Navient said it would consider any proposal in the future if it reflected the fair value of the company.

(Reporting by Liana Baker in New York Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)

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