Michael Dell’s and Silver Lake’s $24.4 billion bid to take Dell private suffered a blow yesterday after the company’s special committee rejected their request to change the voting rules in exchange for them offering $150 million more.

Dell shares fell more than 4 per cent to as low as $12.28, their lowest level since news of the takeover broke on January 14th. Michael Dell has been arguing since February that Dell needs to restructure as a private company to respond to the challenges posed to its computers by smart phones and tablets.

The special committee, set up by Dell’s board to assess whether shareholders were getting the best deal, refused yesterday to change the voting rules on the deal but said it would be willing to move the vote’s record date forward. – (Reuters)