DUESSELDORF, Germany (Thomson Financial) - Henkel KGaA said it will wait for the right moment for the sale of Ecolab Inc., declining to say how much of its stake in the U.S. hospital cleaning company it plans to divest and at what terms.
'Ecolab is a difficult subject,' said chief executive Ulrich Lehner, who will hand over the reins to Kasper Rorsted later on Monday, speaking at Henkel's annual general meeting.
Henkel's holding in Ecolab is governed by a contract that was designed to safeguard Ecolab's independence and to prevent Henkel from exiting its investment speedily, he added.
Henkel in February announced plans to sell its 29.4 percent stake in Ecolab - representing a market value of around 2.5 billion euros at the end of 2007 - in part or in whole, to finance the purchase of National Starch's adhesives and electronic materials businesses for 2.7 billion pounds (3.4 billion euros).
'We are carefully watching both the dollar exchange rate and the Ecolab share price, but we are totally relaxed, given our bridge financing,' Lehner told shareholders at the annual general meeting on Monday.
Henkel, a German maker of household products and industrial adhesives, had secured loans from banks to finance the acquisition of the National Starch businesses for the 12 months after the close of the deal earlier this month.
For the time after the bridge loans, it plans to use the proceeds from the Ecolab sale, further divestment of non-core assets and to take out more debt.
Ecolab has a total market value of about $11 billion (6.9 billion euros).
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