Investor Elliott says still holds over 5 pct in Germany's DMG
07/02/2015 11:09
FRANKFURT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Elliott denied
on Saturday that it had reduced its voting rights in German
machine-tool maker DMG Mori Seiki AG GILG.DE , which is the
target of a takeover bid by Japan's DMG Mori Seiki 6141.T .
DMG published a series of official bourse statements late on
Friday stating that Elliott's stake had fallen below 5 percent,
signalling that the hedge fund had possibly accepted the
Japanese offer.
However, Elliot said technical procedures tied to the timing
of certain acquisitions had thrown up misleading figures.
"...our position has not fallen below 5 percent since our
initial disclosure, and the filing today (Friday) is just a
fluke of German disclosure rules," a spokesman for Elliott said
in a statement on Saturday.
"We can confirm that Elliott has crossed the threshold of 5
percent in physical shares of DMG Mori Seiki AG on January 27,
2015 and that the position has since not fallen below that
threshold," he said.
Japan's DMG Mori Seiki in January offered 27.50 euros ($31)
in cash for DMG shares, valuing the company at nearly 2.2
billion euros. ID:nL6N0V04U0 ID:nL6N0V10Q6
The two firms have expanded their partnership over recent
years, with Tokyo-listed DMG increasing its stake in the German
business, formerly called Gildemeister, to 24.3 percent in 2013.
The proposed takeover would be one of the biggest to date of
a German company by a Japanese peer, creating a business with a
combined workforce of 11,600 and about 3.5 billion euros in
annual sales.
Under German law, investors must disclose when their holding
in a company breaches certain thresholds, the lowest being 3
percent.
(Reporting by Thomas Atkins; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
((Thomas.Atkins@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1508; Reuters
Messaging: thomas.atkins.reuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))
Keywords: DMG MORI ELLIOTT/STAKE