Aryzta: 'Peculiar' Elliott offer lifts shares
23/11/2020 08:18
** Shares in Swiss frozen baked goods maker Aryzta ARYN.S
jump 7% after private equity firm Elliott Capital Advisors makes
a proposal to acquire all Aryzta's shares for 0.80 Swiss francs
per share urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2I90HK
** Aryzta said it received the letter, but the potential
offer was "subject to certain conditions, some of which cannot
be satisfied as a matter of fact"
** It reiterated its previous statement that it had
concluded discussions with Elliott on Oct. 24 and was
considering alternatives urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASN000GG8
** The potential offer would value the company at 793
million Swiss francs ($871.81 million), a 9% premium to Aryzta's
closing of 0.6645 francs on Friday
** "Interesting timing and peculiar offer, in our view, as
it is public knowledge that Chairman and interim CEO Urs Jordi
is against such a deal," Vontobel says, adding that possibly the
former chairman and CEO were behind an Elliott deal
** The broker continues to believe that Urs Jordi and his
team intend to refocus the product categories and regional scale
in future
((bartosz.dabrowski@tr.com))