Atlantia prepares to sweeten public offer for Abertis to counter ACS bid - report
23 NOV 2017
Abertis [BME:ABE] bidder Atlantia [BIT:ATL], is preparing to sweeten its public offer to see of a counterbid from Hochtief [FRA:HOT], the German unit of ACS [BME:ACS], Italian-language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The unsourced report said that Atlantia laid out two options to investors during its roadshow last week. The report said that the first option would be to make the public offer all-cash, while the second option would retain the existing cash-and-share structure but raise the price.
The report said that the second option appears more likely, given that shares in the future merged Italian-Spanish entity are the most attractive part of the Atlantia offer. The report said that Atlantia would also run the risk of engaging in a bidding war, as an all-cash offer would mean that the competing bids would be judged purely on price.
Abertis has a market cap of EUR 18.27bn.