Uniper suitor Fortum claims company aware of bid; refutes offer as being hostile
Fortum [HEL:FORTUM], the Finnish energy group, claimed that the management of the German Uniper [ETR:UN01] was fully aware of the acquisition offer and refuted claims by Uniper about the takeover being hostile, reported Turun Sanomat, citing Fortum CEO Pekka Lundmark, while speaking in a video posted on Youtube.
According to Lundmark, Uniper owner E.On [ETR:EOAN], was trying to sell their Uniper stake over a year ago, and decided to sell to Fortum. The Uniper management was fully aware of this decision, the item reported, quoting the CEO.
Uniper’s management said it was not aware of the takeover offer before it was leaked to the press and claimed Fortum had launched a hostile bid.
The result of the EUR 22 per share takeover offer will be published later this month, the item said. The item further cited Jukka Oksaharju, a strategist from Nordnet, as saying that the takeover attempt by Fortum cannot be considered a bona fide hostile takeover since the owner of Uniper, E.On, has been in discussions with Fortum. However, the resistance by Uniper management could spell trouble for the merger transaction, the item added.