NEWBURY (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Italy-based Cobra Automotive Technologies S.p.A climbed around 50 percent in the morning trading in Italy after British telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L, VOD) Monday announced its intentions to acquire Cobra through a voluntary tender offer at 1.49 euros per share in cash. The offer values Cobra at 145 million euros or 115 million pounds in total. Cobra had a reported net debt of 48 million euros as of March 31.
Vodafone said it has entered into an agreement with Cobra's main shareholders, who, together, hold 73.96 percent of its share capital to effect certain matters including agreeing to tender their shares into the offer.
The offer would be launched in the coming weeks and will be made subject to the relevant provisions of Italian law.
Vodafone added that it has entered into an agreement with certain minority shareholders of Cobra's Telematics subsidiary to acquire their 20 percent shareholding for a consideration of 20 million euros, conditional on completion of the offer.
The offer is conditional on, amongst other things, obtaining appropriate anti-trust approvals and is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2014.
Italy-based Cobra is a provider of security and telematics solutions to the automotive and insurance industries. Through its operations in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, the company and provides a range of products and services, including telematics, usage-based insurance, and vehicle tracking, to vehicle manufacturers, dealerships and after-market customers.
According to Vodafone, the acquisition of Cobra is in line with its strategy to expand its machine-to-machine or M2M capability beyond connectivity. The company expects that Cobra's telematics products and expertise will enable it to provide a more comprehensive range of end-to-end services to automotive customers.
Erik Brenneis, Director of M2M, Vodafone said, 'The combination of Vodafone and Cobra will create a new global provider of connected car services. We plan to invest in the business to offer our automotive and insurance customers a full range of telematics services.'
In Italy, Cobra shares are gaining 0.49 euros or 49.65 percent, and trading at 1.48 euros.
In London, Vodafone stock is currently at 194.50 pence, down 0.50 pounds or 0.26 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX