German energy company Uniper’s management and supervisory boards have recommended the company’s shareholders should reject a €8.bn takeover offer from Finnish state-controlled utility Fortum.
The boards suggested that Fortum’s offer price of €21.31 per share plus €0.69 per Uniper share for dividends for fiscal 2017 undervalues the company and will not bring any additional value to Uniper.
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It is claimed shareholders, employees, and further stakeholders of Uniper would not benefit from the offer, which is expected to see Fortum taking the 46.65% stake currently held by E.ON.
They have also noted that the future developments of Uniper mentioned in the takeover offer are not legally relevant, since as an investor Fortum would not be able to intervene in any business decisions of Uniper.
Uniper CEO Klaus Schäfer said: “Fortum’s offer is unacceptable as it does not reflect Uniper’s true value. In addition, there is no recognisable contribution to a better development perspective for Uniper.
“The offer document also does not clearly state what Fortum’s true intentions are. Now begins the time for discussions.
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By GlobalData“We will find out if Fortum is prepared to follow up its public statements with binding commitments. We will hold Fortum to its word to ensure Uniper’s independence as far as possible.”
However, Uniper said that it would continue to discuss with Fortum about the possibility of getting a higher offer.
