Agfa Gevaert says Kanteron Systems takeover offer "not interesting" (updated)

Agfa Gevaert NV

13/09/2018 10:05

(Adds details, Agfa Gevaert's comments)
    By Piotr Lipinski
    Sept 13 (Reuters) - Shares in digital imaging systems
producer Agfa Gevaert  AGFB.BR  climbed on Thursday after it
said it had declined to engage in talks with privately-held
Kanteron Systems regarding a potential takeover bid.
    The company said that it had received a non-binding letter
of intent from Kanteron Systems relating to a voluntary
conditional leveraged takeover offer on Sept. 11, confirming
information from a blog post published by Kanteron a day before.
    "Agfa Healthcare business unit revenues have been stagnant
in the last few years. However, a deal with Kanteron would allow
Agfa to tap into our leading-edge technology," Kanteron Systems
CEO Jorge Cortellin said in the post.
    Kanteron Systems is a Spanish software company active in the
healthcare and biomedical IT business, helping manage imaging
and genomics data for precision medicine applications.
    Agfa said in a statement that its management decided not to
engage in discussions with Kanteron Systems at this stage.
    Contactd for further comment, company spokesman Johan Jacobs
said that "at this stage, we are not convinced that it's an
interesting offer".
    Kanteron Systems was not immediately available for comment.
    Agfa's shares jumped 8.5 percent on the Brussels stock
exchange, right after the announcement. At 0840 GMT, the shares
were up 3.6 percent.

 (Reporting by Piotr Lipinski in Gdynia; Editing by Thyagaraju
Adinarayan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((piotr.lipinski@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 772 00 86;))