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Shareholder Makes Bid to Take Over Qualstar

Dissident shareholder Steven Bronson is making another bid to take over Qualstar Corp., a Simi Valley developer and manufacturer of data storage and power supply products. Bronson has made an offer to buy 3 million shares of Qualstar at a cost of $1.65 per share, for a total cost of $5.1 million, including fees and expenses. Shareholders have until Feb. 28 to decide to sell to Bronson. Bronson is chief executive of Boca Raton-based BKF Capital Group Inc. and is the second largest shareholder in Qualstar. The largest investor is William Gervais, a co-founder and former Qualstar chief executive. “(Bronson) is making the offer for the purpose of becoming the company’s largest shareholder and thereby obtaining controlling influence over the company,” said a filing by Bronson with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The offer is also being made so that Bronson can have candidates elected to the Qualstar board of directors at the 2013 annual meeting of shareholders, according to the filing. This is the second attempt by Bronson to take over the Qualstar board. In June, Bronson waged a proxy fight against Qualstar management over the company’s poor financial performance and anemic stock price. Bronson has stated that Qualstar should sell off its data tape storage business because it is unprofitable. A special election that month failed in electing Bronson’s slate of board candidates. Shares of Qualstar closed up 2 cents, or more than 1 percent, to $1.61 Friday on the Nasdaq.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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