German transport equipment specialist SAF-Holland has made an all-cash offer worth 4.2 billion crowns (€444 million) for Swedish brake and suspension systems group Haldex.
SAF-Holland, which aims to reach €1.5 billion (AU$2.2 billion) in sales by 2020, said it would benefit from an expanded product range if the deal went through and that Haldex would help it to meet its sales goal ahead of time.
“Together, we would form a one-stop shopping solution provider for a wide range of components,” Detlef Borghardt, CEO of SAF-Holland, said in a statement.
Haldex has been selling disc brakes to SAF-Holland for a number of years.
“It's a really large customer,” Goran Carlson, Haldex Chairman and one of its largest shareholders, told Reuters.
“Their intention is to dress their axles with our brakes, to integrate in some way.”
According to Reuters, Haldex has also received another bid from a rival suitor.
“Coincidentally there is another bidder too, so we will consider that and also consider the other,” said Carlson.
According to Bloomberg, a Haldex statement said the board would respond to the SAF-Holland offer no later than two weeks before the end of the acceptance period on 24 August.
It hasn’t received the terms of the other offer, and there’s no certainty one will be made, Haldex said.
Haldex shares were up 17 per cent at 100 crowns yesterday, trading above SAF-Holland's offer price, which Reuters said indicates expectations of a higher bid. SAF-Holland shares were down 3.3 per cent.
SAF-Holland said its 94.42 crown per share offer, a 10.8 per cent premium to Haldex's closing price on Wednesday, was conditional on it gaining control of more than 90 per cent of the shares. It also said it had bought a 3.6 per cent stake in Haldex, Reuters reported.