ASSLAR (dpa-AFX) - Busch SE announced its renewed voluntary public tender offer for the shares of Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG (PFFVF.PK, PVTCY.PK) through its wholly owned subsidiary, the investment company Pangea GmbH. The offer price will be 110.00 euros per share, and thus be 13.80 euros higher than the previous tender offer announced by Busch group on 24 January 2017.
On 14 March 2017, Busch group withdrew its initial offer after the calling of an extraordinary general meeting by the Pfeiffer Vacuum Management had resulted in the non-occurrence of one of the completion conditions of the offer.
With the new offer, holders of Pfeiffer Vacuum shares will receive a premium of about 28 percent on the volume-weighted three-month average price prior to the announcement of the previous offer on 24 January 2017.
The settlement of the transaction will occur only after the annual general meeting of Pfeiffer Vacuum will have taken place on 23 May 2017 and therefore after the payment of the dividend of EUR3.60 per Pfeiffer Vacuum share announced by the Management and Supervisory Board of Pfeiffer Vacuum for the financial year 2016. Shareholders who accept the voluntary tender offer can thus receive this dividend under the applicable conditions in addition to the cash consideration.
With the renewed offer, Busch group intends to increase its 29.98 percent stake in Pfeiffer Vacuum as part of its investment strategy and in order to benefit from the long-term growth potential the vacuum industry offers.
Busch group said it supports the ongoing growth strategy of Pfeiffer Vacuum and does not intend to integrate the company into the Busch group. On the contrary, Pfeiffer Vacuum will continue to be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and operate under its own management.
Busch group said it will seek an appropriate representation on Pfeiffer Vacuum's Supervisory Board in order to support the company in a constructive manner. By having liaised with the Pfeiffer Vacuum Management prior to announcing the renewed tender offer, Busch group has affirmed its willingness for dialogue that Busch had started with the Management of Pfeiffer Vacuum recently. Its employee representation was approached with an offer for talks, too.
Busch noted that the offer document will be published following approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority or BaFin. The acceptance period will commence following permission by BaFin. There will be no minimum acceptance threshold. The tender offer is subject to customary offer conditions, except required approvals by antitrust authorities since they have already been gained.
Busch group received a firm financing commitment from Landesbank Baden-W?rttemberg. The closing of the transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX