NH Hotel independent board members quit, oppose Thai parent's offer (updated)

Minor Hotels Europe & Americas SA

17/05/2023 11:08

(Adds one of the board members was chairman of the board)
       May 17 (Reuters) - Spain's NH Hotel Group  NHH.MC  said
its three independent board members quit in opposition to an
offer made by the company's main shareholder Minor International
 MINT.BK  to buy the shares it does not already own.
    Thai tourism group Minor International, which already owns a
94% of NH Hotel's shares, had made an offer for the remaining
outstanding shares at 4.50 euros ($4.95) apiece, which was later
 raised to 'market price' after the market regulator said the
offer was too low and recommended a price above 5.68 euros.
    In a letter sent to the regulator, the independent board
members, Alfredo Fernandez, the board's chairman, Jose Maria
Cantero de Montes-Jovellar and Fernando Lacadena, said the offer
was "detrimental" to minority shareholders.
    The remaining board members opposed the statement and called
for a board meeting.
    During the pandemic, NH Hotel lost about 50% of its market
value. Despite an industry recovery since late last year and a
strong price increase this year, its shares still trade well
below the 6.30 euros that Minor paid for its stake in 2018.
        Shares were up just 0.1% at 4.32 euros in morning
trading, and are up 45% so far this year.
  
    ($1 = 0.9084 euros)

 (Reporting by Joanna Jonczyk-Gwizdala, Editing by Inti Landauro
and Bernadette Baum)
 ((gdansk.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 772 0920;))