$2.1 billion effort to buy out Germany's Aareal Bank fails (updated)

Aareal Bank AG

04/02/2022 19:13

(Recasts with size of proposed deal, adds comment by Aareal
Bank CEO, investor statement, company background)
    FRANKFURT, Feb 4 (Reuters) - A buyout group seeking to take
over Germany's Aareal Bank  ARLG.DE  in a $2.1 billion deal said
on Friday that too few shareholders took them up on their offer
and the bid had failed.
    Big investors had been publicly resisting to tender their
shares, with one calling the offer "lousy."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2U60U6
    In a final push last month, the buyout group, which included
U.S.-based Advent International and Centerbridge Partners,
raised their offer to 31 euros per share from 29 euros, valuing
the lender 1.86 billion euros ($2.13 billion).  
    But on Friday, the prospective buyers said the minimum
acceptance threshold of 60% had not been reached. "Therefore,
the takeover offer has lapsed and will be unwound," it said in a
statement. 
    Aareal Bank's management and its supervisory board had
supported the deal. 
    Chief Executive Officer Jochen Kloesges said in a statement
following the announcement of the deal's failure that the bank's
shareholders instead "wish to continue supporting us on our path
of sustainable value creation." 
    "We will maintain in-depth dialogue with our investors," he
added.
    Top investors who had balked at the deal during the bidding
process said on Friday they welcomed the failure. 
    Petrus Advisers, which holds a stake of nearly 16%, called
for leadership changes at Aareal.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nF9N2IR01Q
    "As the lead investor, we look forward to change at the top
of Aareal and value creation for all shareholders," it said.
    Adam Epstein, co-founder of Teleios, which holds a 5% stake
in the bank, said he was pleased with the outcome.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nF9N2IR01P
    "Aareal's board must do more to defend the company from such
flagrant opportunism in the future," he said. 
 ($1 = 0.8731 euro)

 (Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Huebner in Frankfurt
Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
 ((Tom.Sims@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 645;))