FRANKFURT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Shares of Beiersdorf jumped as much as 10 percent after Procter & Gamble's chief executive said he was interested in buying the German maker of Nivea skin cream.
P&G would buy Beiersdorf if the price was right, but the German company 'must make the first step', Bloomberg cited CEO Robert McDonald as saying on Wednesday.
Beiersdorf told Reuters said it was not aware of P&G's interest. P&G could not immediately comment.
Shares of Beiersdorf pared some of their gains and were up 4.3 percent at 44.65 euros by 1238 GMT, while Germany's blue-chip index was flat.
Beiersdorf has a market value of 10.79 billion euros ($14.7 billion), according to Reuters data. Germany's billionaire Herz family holds 50.5 percent of Beiersdorf via its investment vehicle Maxingvest.
A person close to the holding company said Maxingvest, which also controls German retail chain Tchibo, was not willing to sell its majority stake in Hamburg-based Beiersdorf.
Maxingvest declined to comment.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, Emily Stephenson in Chicago) ($1=.7347 Euro) Keywords: BEIERSDORF P&G/ (maria.sheahan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1286; Reuters Messaging: maria.sheahan.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
P&G would buy Beiersdorf if the price was right, but the German company 'must make the first step', Bloomberg cited CEO Robert McDonald as saying on Wednesday.
Beiersdorf told Reuters said it was not aware of P&G's interest. P&G could not immediately comment.
Shares of Beiersdorf pared some of their gains and were up 4.3 percent at 44.65 euros by 1238 GMT, while Germany's blue-chip index was flat.
Beiersdorf has a market value of 10.79 billion euros ($14.7 billion), according to Reuters data. Germany's billionaire Herz family holds 50.5 percent of Beiersdorf via its investment vehicle Maxingvest.
A person close to the holding company said Maxingvest, which also controls German retail chain Tchibo, was not willing to sell its majority stake in Hamburg-based Beiersdorf.
Maxingvest declined to comment.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, Emily Stephenson in Chicago) ($1=.7347 Euro) Keywords: BEIERSDORF P&G/ (maria.sheahan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1286; Reuters Messaging: maria.sheahan.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.