Abertis/Atlantia: ACS chairman offers Criteria mega dividend - reported rumor
ACS (BME:ACS), the construction company that is preparing to counter the Italian toll-road operator Atlantia’s(BIT:ATL) offer for its Spanish rival Abertis (BME:ABE), has offered Abertis main shareholder Criteria CaixaCorp a mega dividend, reported El Confidencial.
ACS chairman and main shareholder Florentino Perez met Criteria’s chairman Isidre Faine last week to offer a generous dividend in exchange of its support, the unsourced online Spanish-language report said. After the meeting Perez told the institutional funds that finance ACS’ bid that the encounter was satisfactory, El Confidencial said.
ACS’ board meets this Wednesday 18 October to approve the counter offer, valued at least EUR 17bn, the report went on to say. Criteria holds 22.5% of Abertis, so should it accept to swap it for a stake in the company resulting from a merger of Abertis with ACS’s listed German unit Hochtief (HOTG:DE), ACS will save about EUR 4bn, the report noted.
El Confidencial cited other sources as saying that Faine has also been urged by the Spanish government to back ACS’s offer.
Criteria has always intended to retain a stake in Abertis in order to finance its Fundación Bancaria ‘la Caixa’, a non-profit entity that raises EUR 500m a year from Criteria’s industrial holdings, the item noted.
ACS’ board meets this Wednesday 18 October to approve the counter offer, valued at least EUR 17bn, the report went on to say. Criteria holds 22.5% of Abertis, so should it accept to swap it for a stake in the company resulting from a merger of Abertis with ACS’s listed German unit Hochtief (HOTG:DE), ACS will save about EUR 4bn, the report noted.
El Confidencial cited other sources as saying that Faine has also been urged by the Spanish government to back ACS’s offer.
Criteria has always intended to retain a stake in Abertis in order to finance its Fundación Bancaria ‘la Caixa’, a non-profit entity that raises EUR 500m a year from Criteria’s industrial holdings, the item noted.