China’s gentle German auto bid may work too well
25/06/2018 15:01
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
By Liam Proud
LONDON, June 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Wang family,
owners of a Chinese car parts supplier, made an $882 mln offer
for headrest maker Grammer. A pledge to save jobs and the
buyer’s size make a full takeover tricky. Yet shareholders wary
of the increasingly messy governance probably won’t want to
stick around.
Full view will be published shortly.
On Twitter https://twitter.com/liamwardproud
CONTEXT NEWS
- A consortium led by China’s Wang family on June 25 offered
60 euros per share for German auto supplier Grammer. The Wangs,
who control Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts, already own 26 percent of
the German company.
- The cash offer will be made through a special acquisition
vehicle, controlled by the Wangs and funded with 480.5 million
euros of equity and debt. Some 70 percent of that equity will
come from so-called passive co-investors CRRC, Northeast
Securities and Haitong Securities. The bidder has also secured
up to 293 million euros of debt financing from Shanghai Pudong
Development Bank.
- Bosnia’s Hastor family, which owns 18 percent of Grammer
according to Thomson Reuters data, has criticised the offer as
too low. Cascade International, one of two entities controlled
by the Hastors, said on May 30 that it thinks a fair price for
Grammer would be between 85 euros and 100 euros per share.
- Grammer shares were down 2.7 percent to 60.5 euros on June
25 at 1345 GMT.
- For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on PROUD/
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Grammer AGM interrupted amid activist opposition urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1TF25Q
Grammer shareholder Cascade says Ningbo offer insufficient,
seeks 100 euros/shr urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1T15RR
Offer presentation https://www.allianceforthefuture.com/1017_ma/pdf/Investor_Presentation.pdf
Offer statement https://www.allianceforthefuture.com/download/companies/cncma1017/ma1017/01_Grammer_Offer_en.PDF
BREAKINGVIEWS-Investors risk whiplash in car parts M&A standoff
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1T222H
BREAKINGVIEWS-China is winner in German-Bosnian governance fight
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1T03KX
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(Editing by Neil Unmack and Karen Kwok)
((liam.proud@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
liam.ward-proud.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))