SiliconBeat

California Micro Devices, the recipient of a New Years Eve letter from a Dialectic Capital that urged the chip maker to pay a large chunk of its cash out to shareholders in a special dividend, sent the New York investor a reply Monday that nixed that idea, along with the notion that the company should put itself up for sale.

In his letter to Dialectic’s manager, John Fichthorn, Cal Micro Chairman Wade Meyercord said on behalf of his board that “(w)e appreciate” Dialectic’s “interest and support” as a stockholder, noting that the private equity firm had been a 5 percent owner since September 2007 (i.e, not that long a time).

“The strategic issues we have been considering include those raised in your letter,” wrote Meyercord, “but we have come to different conclusions.” Read the rest of this entry »

Dialectic Capital Management boosted the stake their funds hold in Leadis Technology, the Sunnyvale maker of mixed-signal chips used in flat-panel displays, to 10.3 percent. In the last 60 days the firm has acquired 169,093 shares that it paid $128,515 for, at an average price of 76 cents per share.

Dialectic reported the holdings on a form 13-D, along with the disclaimer that its investment managers, John and Luke Fichthorn “have been and may continue to be” in touch with Leadis’s board, other “significant shareholders and others regarding alternatives” the company could employ to increase shareholder value.

Among the “alternatives” Dialectic suggests Read the rest of this entry »