Recticel shares jump after investor vote hampers rival's hostile bid (updated)
07/12/2021 15:52
(Adds quote from Greiner, updates share price)
Dec 7 (Reuters) - Shares in Belgian plastics company
Recticel RECT.BR jumped on Tuesday after investors backed the
sale of its engineered foams business, a deal some analysts said
might deter a hostile bid from Austrian rival Greiner that they
had criticised as too low.
Shareholders on Monday gave the green light for Recticel to
sell the foams unit to U.S.-based Carpenter Co., which had made
a binding 656 million euro ($739 million) offer in October.
Recticel, which is on track to become a "pure-play"
insulation company, expects regulatory approval in the coming
months.
Its shares were up 7.53% at 17.42 euros at 1519 GMT.
Greiner, keen to buy the foams business, had planned to buy
a 27% stake in Recticel from its top shareholder Compagnie du
Bois Sauvage CBOS.BR for 13.50 euros each and extend the offer
to other investors, a plan the Austrian company could still
stick with despite the setback.
"Greiner continues to be interested in Recticel and is
reviewing the situation," the group told Reuters.
However, some analysts had criticised the offer as too low,
and European Union regulators opened an investigation into the
potential deal in November, saying it could hurt competition and
lead to price hikes. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2SF5YG
ING researchers said they believed Greiner's deal was now
significantly less probable, while Berenberg analyst Christoph
Greulich said the low bid price meant it had been "highly
unlikely to succeed anyway."
Recticel CEO Olivier Chapelle told reporters he did not
expect any great difficulties with antitrust regulators over the
deal with Carpenter Co.
"If this were the case," he added, "I believe remedies could
be found."
He did not rule out considering other possible takeover bids
more favourable to shareholders.
Recticel is planning to sell its Bedding business line to
Aquinos Group, and expects Compagnie du Bois Sauvage to support
the deal.
($1 = 0.8879 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Diana Mandiá
Editing by Mark Potter)
((sarah.morland@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 92;))