A tender offer is a form of merger where the bidding corporation makes a cash offer to shareholders of the target corporation, intending to acquire majority control of the target. In 2008, Microsoft made a tender offer for the stock of Yahoo, but the process has met with resistance.
Fraud in the context of a tender offer is a serious matter independently covered by Rule 14e-3 of the Securities and Exchange Commission, based on federal securities law, and especially the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which grants special authority governing tender offers in Section 14.