Brenntag ends takeover talks with U.S. rival Univar (updated)

Univar Solutions

02/01/2023 21:13

(Adds Brenntag statement, background)
       BERLIN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - German chemicals distributor
Brenntag  BNRGn.DE  said on Monday it is ending talks with
smaller U.S. rival Univar Solutions  UNVR.N  on a possible
takeover, weeks after activist investor PrimeStone called on the
company to consider a break-up instead.
        Shares in the Essen, Germany-based Brenntag slipped
sharply after it announced in November that it was discussing a
bid, which it said would help it expand in the United States.
    "Brenntag SE has decided today it is no longer proceeding
with those discussions," the company said in a statement on
Monday evening, giving no reason for the decision.
    On Dec. 20, PrimeStone disclosed it owned 2% of Brenntag's
shares and urged the company to drop the talks, which it said
smacked of risky empire-building with attendant anti-trust
challenges that would lower the companies' gross profits.
    The activist investor, which two years ago pushed for cost
cuts at British wealth manager St. James's Place, urged the
company to buy back shares and prepare to split up into two
separate companies.
        Brenntag combines units that engage in the
modestly-margined business of transporting chemicals with more
specialist and faster-growing units that deal with industries
like pharmaceuticals and nutrition.
 (Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru and Thomas Escritt
in Berlin; editing by Grant McCool)
 ((Akanksha.Khushi@thomsonreuters.com;))