Abertis suitor Atlantia ready to raise bid to beat ACS - report
15 OCT 2017
Italian toll-road operator Atlantia (BIT:ATL) is prepared to raise its takeover bid for Spanish rival Abertis(BME:ABE) to up to about EUR 17.8bn if construction company ACS (BME:ACS) materialises a counter offer next week, a newswire report said, citing sources close to the matter. Different sources said last Friday that Atlantia was prepared to offer up to EUR 18 per share, if necessary, without hurting its credit rating and significantly increasing its cost of funding, Reuters said.
As has been widely reported, Atlantia formally launched this week a cash and share offer that values Abertis at around EUR 17bn — or about 17 euros per share — in a deal that would create the world’s biggest toll-road operator.
The deal is conditional on Abertis shareholders — who own between 10% and 23% of the Spanish company’s capital — accepting the share offer, the item noted. Top shareholder La Caixa would be willing to sell, but it wants a compelling case with a better price, Reuters added citing Mediobanca, in a note to clients.
ACS needs to disclose a counter-bid by October 19, which would put Atlantia’s bid on hold for weeks or months as Spanish market regulator CNMV would have to examine ACS’s offer and decide whether it can go ahead.
As reported, ACS’s offer is expected to be roughly half in cash and the rest in newly issued shares in German construction group Hochtief (HOTG:DE), which is controlled by ACS. The value of ACS’s potential offer is not known and the company declined to comment.
According to stock sales company Banca IMI, an offer with no premium versus Atlantia’s offer would be unattractive, as investors were unlikely to prefer receiving Hochtief shares. Hochtief board will discuss the matter on 18 October.