Opposition grows to Dell deal T Rowe Price, the second-largest outside shareholder in Dell, on Tuesday added its voice to the growing chorus of opposition to the proposed $24.4bn buyout of the PC maker. It follows the protest last week from Southeastern Asset Management, the largest outside investor, and a number of smaller investors, and points to hardening in opposition to the $13.65 a share offered for the company by founder Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. "We believe the proposed buyout does not reflect the value of Dell, and we do not intend to support the offer as put forward," said Brian Rogers, chief investment officer of T Rowe Price, in a statement. Dell's stock edged up further on Tuesday to reach $13.78, suggesting that Wall Street expects Mr Dell and Silver Lake to be forced to pay a slightly higher price to win backing for their deal. However, the shares still stand far below the $23.72 that Southeastern claims the company would be worth in a break-up. T Rowe Price owns around 4.4 per cent of Dell's shares, worth nearly $1.1bn. Along with Southeastern, with a stake of 8.4 per cent, its opposition shows that an influential minority of Dell's investors has already rejected the premium that the proposed buyout represents to the company's recent beaten-down share price. Dell last week put the premium to shareholders at 37 per cent, based on its average share price of the previous three months. However, some investors are angry that the price is still far below the $18 a share at which the shares were changing hands a year ago. In making their case, Silver Lake and other supporters of the deal have argued that, without the hope of a buyout, Dell would fall back to being "an $8 stock." Its shares dipped below $9 last November before a slight recovery that coincided with a research note from Goldman Sachs that pointed out the company's potential value in a buyout. Even some critics of the buyout price concede that it will be difficult to squeeze much more out of Mr Dell and Silver Lake, given the tough turnround that the company still faces. "I think most of the shareholders who are voicing this strong opposition want more than $20" a share, said Richard Pzena, head of Pzena Investment Management, which owns nearly 13m shares. I just don't think that's forthcoming from this buyout group, so the most likely outcome is this [deal] won't happen. Mr Pzena said he believed Dell would be worth $25 a share "over a number of years," but added: "I don't think you'd get anywhere near that today. There aren't a lot of buyers. As much as a fifth of Dell's shares may already be in the hands of arbitrage traders, or speculators who trade in stocks in anticipation of a deal, according to one person close to the deal proposal. These investors would vote for a deal rather than risk seeing the buyout fail and the shares fall back in value, this person said. The early skirmish that has broken out over the buyout price has set the stage for a heated campaign ahead of a shareholder vote on the plan. Mr Dell has said he will not vote with the 16 per cent of Dell shares he and his family controls, leaving it to outside investors to determine the outcome.