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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
-----------------------
SCHEDULE TO
(RULE 14d-100)
Tender Offer Statement Pursuant to Section 14(d)(1) or 13(e)(1) of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
HELLO DIRECT, INC.
(Name of Subject Company)
GN ACQUISITION CORPORATION
GN GREAT NORDIC LTD.
(Offerors)
Common Stock, Par Value, $0.001 per Share
(Title of Class of Securities)
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423402106
(Cusip Number of Class of Securities)
Jorn Kildegaard
c/o John A. Bick, Esq.
Davis Polk & Wardwell
450 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10017
Telephone: (212) 450-4000
(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices
and Communications on Behalf of Filing Persons)
Copies to:
John A. Bick, Esq.
Davis Polk & Wardwell
450 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10017
Telephone: (212) 450-4000
[X] Check the box if the filing relates solely to preliminary communications
made before the commencement of a tender offer.
Check the appropriate boxes below to designate any transactions to which
the statement relates:
[X] third-party tender offer subject to Rule 14d-1.
[ ] issuer tender offer subject to Rule 13e-4.
[ ] going-private transaction subject to Rule 13e-3.
[ ] amendment to Schedule 13D under Rule 13d-2.
Check the following box if the filing is a final amendment reporting the
results of the tender offer. [ ]
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<PAGE>
GN Netcom
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Major Player in the Headset Market.........
o Strong organic growth (>25%)
o New high growth markets within office, mobile and PC (voice
recognition)
o Recent acquisition of US leader in mobile headsets, Jabra
o Cordless (Bluetooth and DECT) technology leadership
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Industry Trends..........
o Growing number of hands-free users
Growing number of call centers in Europe and Asia
Increasing penetration of office segment
Soaring demand for cordless solutions (Bluetooth, DECT)
o Growing number of potential hands-free users
Mobile phones, PDAs, Mobile internet terminals
Bluetooth universal voice/data interface
o Increased need for hands-free capability
Focus on productivity, health, safety, increased mobile airtime
o Increased adoption of PC Voice applications
Speech recognition, voice control
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Market Potential...........
Potential Penetration Growth
--------- ----------- ------
Call center 4m agent positions 100% 15%
Office 3-500m workstations <5% 20%
Mobile & PC 600m subscribers ~10% 25-30%
130m PC units/year
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Market segment development........
Growth 1999: USD 760m Growth 2003: USD 1,670m
60% --------------------------------- 60% --------------------------------
0 Mobile
50% ---0O0--------------------------- 50% --------------------------------
0
40% --------------------------------- 40% --------------------------------
PC audio Office 00000 Mobile
30% ----0---------------------------- 30% 0000000-------------------------
000 00 Call center xx000 000 Office
20% ----0----------0000---000-------- 20% xxx00---00000---00--------------
00 00000 xxxxx 000 0000 Call center
10% ----------------------000-------- 10% -xxx-----000--000000------------
PC audio 0 0000
0% --------------------------------- 0% ----------------00--------------
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
End user price, USD End user price, USD
Avg. annual growth rate the next 4 years: - Call center: 15%
- Office: 20%
- Mobile: 30%
- PC audio: 25%
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Bluetooth.............
o GN Netcom launched in September 2000 the world's first Bluetooth
headset
o Bluetooth for mobile headsets in 2001
o GN Netcom intends to be a major player in the coming Bluetooth headset
market
o Bluetooth will help increase headset penetration in Office, Mobile and
PC segments
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Office market situation...........
The office environment is an attractive hands-free segment
o Office environment represents a potential very large segment, estimated to
grow from USD 220 in 1999 to USD 460m in 2003
o Current penetration is low, but product awareness in office environments is
growing
- Increased focus on productivity, comfort and convenience
- Increased focus on ergonomics / healthy work environment
- Emerging market for speech recognition and voice control applications
o Channel access and end-user contact will be key to success
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Key success factors, office market...............
Key success factor Key skills and resources
------------------ ------------------------
Channel access o End-user knowledge
o Differentiated and broad product line
o E-commerce (B2B)
o One-stop-shopping
Brand name recognition o Amount of sales and marketing resources
incl. co-op programs
o Differentiated products
Cost competitiveness o High volume, i.e.leverage catalogue investment
o Outsourcing expertise
o Development skills in achieving minimum product
cost
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
GN Netcom situation, office market........
o GN Netcom has started to penetrate office segment in selected countries
o GN Netcom awareness in North American small office market is limited and
only now emerging
o Present speciality distributors target call centres and leaves small office
unaddressed
o GN Netcom is currently targeting the North American small office users
through catalogue initiative and is building e-commerce activities
o An organic build-up of office channel access may take long time
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Industry situation..............
Others |------- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Andrea |--- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Hello Direct |---- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Telex |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Labtec |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Hosiden |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
GN Netcom |----------------- | | | |
| | | | | |
Plantronics |-------------------------------------------- |
| | | | | |
- 50 100 150 200 250
1999 revenue (m USD)
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Hello Direct acquisition............
With the Hello Direct acquisition GN Netcom obtains
o Increased market share in the small office segment
o Access to channel to small office end-users in North America
o E-commerce site
o Strong connectivity technology and knowledge of desktop telephony
applications
o Organic revenue growth >20%
o Hello Direct H1-2000 revenues USD 46.2m
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Hello Direct profile...........
o Founded in 1987
o Traded on NASDAQ (HELO)
o Located in San Jose, CA, USA
o 270 employees
o Primary market: Desk top telephony product for the small office
business end user
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Combined hands-free office expertise.........
<TABLE>
GN Netcom (x) Hello Direct (o)
<S> <C> <C> <C>
R&D o A-D/D-A technology xxxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o Cordless xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ooooooooo
o Self learning technology xxxxxxxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o Connectivity xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx oooooooooooooooo
Manufacturing o Outsourcing xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ooooooooooo
o Logistics xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx oooooooooooooooo
o Fulfilment xxxxxxxxxxxxx oooooooooooooooooooooo
Marketing o Catalogue know-how xxxxxxxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o E-commerce xxxxx oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o Brand name xxxxxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Distribution o Office channels NA xxxxx oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
set-up o Call centre channels NA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx oooooo
o Channels EU & AP xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx oooo
</TABLE>
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Industry situation, post acquisition............
North American headset market
Others |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Andrea |--- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Telex |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Labtec |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
Hosiden |----- | | | | |
| | | | | |
GN Netcom |---------------------- | | |
| | | | | |
Plantronics |-------------------------------------------- |
| | | | | |
- 50 100 150 200 250
1999 revenue (m USD)
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Market position and strategy............
Position Strategy
Call center GN Netcom is a traditional Focus on organic growth
strong player with well and cost reductions
established brand names
Office Enhance position in North Penetrate and grow office
America w. Hello Direct segment globally using
acquisition technology leadership
Mobile & PC JABRA as a focused mobile/PC Leverage JABRA brand on
SBU with a very strong brand global scale and penetrate
name high growth markets
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Transaction facts..........
Purchase price
o USD 95m
o USD 16.40 per share (on a fully diluted basis)
o Purchase price to be paid in cash
Conditions
o Hart-Scott-Rodino approval received
o Tender offer leads to more than 50% of the shares in Hello Direct Inc.
o Merger consummated before 30 November 2000
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom Hello(R) Direct.com
Outlook 2000...........
o Expected revenue >DKK 1,400m (>DKK 2,400m including Jabra and Hello
Direct on full-year basis)
o EBITA margin >23% (up from 20.4% in 1999)
o Cash EBIT margin 25%
o Strong cash flow from operations (CFFO)
o Increase sales from office, mobile and PC products Including Jabra &
Hello Direct products
<PAGE>
GN Great Nordic
A World of Communications
GN Netcom
Forward looking statement............
The forward-looking statements in this presentation reflect management's current
expectations for certain future events and financial results. Statements
regarding the future are, of course, subject to risks and uncertainties which
may result in material deviations from the outlook set forth above. Furthermore,
some of these expectations are based on assumptions regarding future events,
which may prove incorrect.
Factors that may cause the actual results to deviate materially from the
above-mentioned expectations include, but are not limited to, general economic
developments and developments in the financial markets, technological
developments, changes and amendments to Danish, EU and US legislation and
regulations, changes in the demand for the Group's products, competition,
shortages of components needed in production (especially components needed in
the production of fiber optic test equipment), and the integration of GN Netcom
and Hello Direct Inc..
