Linktone poised to formalize MonsterMob bid

And the soap opera continues: Mere hours after U.K. ringtone and mobile games developer MonsterMob urged shareholders to accept Spanish content provider LaNetro Zed's £34 million takeover bid, Chinese suitor Linktone announced it is poised to make a formal bid of its own, provided the Zed offer is voted down at a shareholder meeting scheduled for Friday. Linktone chairman Elaine LaRoche said the company's rumored £43.8 million bid is "clearly superior" to the Zed offer, adding it will provide troubled MonsterMob with funding necessary to meet its financial obligations until the deal officially closes. "The Zed proposals are not an offer to shareholders, but in fact will result in Zed controlling both MonsterMob and its board of directors and provide no cash or liquidity to shareholders," LaRoche said.

MonsterMob board members said Tuesday that without a firm offer from Linktone, which first indicated its designs on MonsterMob just last week, shareholders should accept the Zed bid, which "provides a solution to MonsterMob's funding needs." LaNetro Zed requires 75 percent shareholder approval to complete the deal, which it calls a "strategic investment" rather than a full-scale takeover bid.

For more on Linktone's offer:
- read this Forbes article