The Swedish Securities Council has announced its decision not to approve a further extension of the acceptance period for Knorr-Bremse’s public offer for Haldex.
The Public offer will expire on 26 September and according to Knorr-Bremse, completion is not possible within the current acceptance period.
Knorr-Bremse is reportedlu assessing the prerequisites for a continued merger clearance process, in the light of the SSC’s statement that it is prepared to allow Knorr-Bremse to make a new Offer within three weeks of a positive decision of the competition authorities.
Klaus Deller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse AG, said: “The SSC’s decision not to extend the tender period is difficult to understand as shareholders have explicitly expressed their ongoing support for our Offer. We will, however, respect the ruling, analyse the reasoning behind the SSC decision and carefully assess all options to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders and of our company. We will thoroughly evaluate whether we can continue the process given that the Haldex Board has repeatedly stated that it will not execute the decision of the general meeting and not cooperate in the merger clearance process.”
Jörgen Durban, Chairman of the Board of Haldex, said: ”We are obviously pleased that the Swedish Securities Council made the only possible decision. At the same time we hope that the handling of this issue will lead to a much needed discussion about the contents of the takeover rules and their application. It’s obvious that the existing regulations and their application have deficiencies that do not benefit anyone.
“But more importantly, this is a message that will delight our employees, customers and long-term owners because it removes much of the uncertainty that has triggered our business for a very long time. I am convinced that many in Landskrona and in our other facilities around the world today are relieved.”
Background to the Offer:
Knorr-Bremse first announced a public offer to the shareholders of Haldex to tender all shares in the company to Knorr-Bremse at the beginning of September 2016.
In April 2017, it was then announced that the acceptance period in the offer had been extended until September 2017.