Verizon urges shareholders to reject ‘mini-tender offer’ by TRC Capital that is about 3% below current levels

Verizon Communications Inc.
VZ,
+1.07%
disclosed Thursday that it received on Aug. 2 a notice of a “mini-tender offer” by TRC Capital Investment Corp. to buy up to 3 million shares of Verizon common stock. The offer price of $31.95 is 2.9% below current levels, and was 4.4% below where the stock closed on Aug. 1. The telecommunications company urged shareholders to reject the “unsolicited” offer. Mini-tender offers seek less than 5% of a company’s outstanding shares. A 3 million-share stake would represent about 0.1% of the 4.204 billion shares outstanding as of June 30. Verizon’s stock, which rose 0.6% in morning trading Thursday, has bounced 4.5% since closing at a 13-year low of $31.46 on July 17, but has dropped 16.6% year to date. In comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.88%
has tacked on 6.9% this year.