By Ozan Ergenay
BERLIN (Reuters) – Vitesco shares rose 20.3% on Monday morning on news that its largest shareholder Schaeffler AG will launch a tender offer valuing the powertrain supplier at 3.64 billion euros ($3.83 billion).
EV components maker Schaeffler AG, controlled by Germany’s billionaire Schaeffler family, already holds 49.9% of Vitesco, which has seen its shares rise 39% this year.
Schaeffler shares were down 5.4% at 0844 GMT.
Schaeffler said it would offer remaining shareholders 91 euros ($95.83) per share, 20% more than last week’s closing price.
Schaeffler expects the deal, which will not be subject to a minimum acceptance rate, to close by January 2024.
It will not need to raise capital to fund the buyout Schaeffler Chief Executive Klaus Rosenfeld said, adding that the deal would be favourable for Schaeffler’s debt ratio.
The offer was not discussed with Vitesco in advance because of overlaps in the membership of the two companies’ supervisory boards, but Schaeffler was confident that it would lead to a “friendly merger”, Rosenfeld said.
Vitesco confirmed the offer in a statement and said its board would decide on next steps.
Georg Schaeffler, chair of the Schaeffler supervisory board, also sits on Vitesco’s board, as does Austrian businessman Siegfried Wolf, who also owns 5% of Schaeffler.
“With the business combination, a leading motion technology company with four focused divisions and revenues of approximately 25 billion euros will be created,” the company said.
The transaction could lead to 600 million euros in “sales and cost synergies” by 2029, Schaeffler said in its statement, adding it plans to simplify Vitesco’s shareholder structure.
Listed preference shares are to be converted into ordinary shares, and the remaining shareholders will be on an equal footing with the family holding ordinary shares.
($1 = 0.9496 euros)
(Reporting by Ozan Ergenay, Christina Amann; writing by Victoria Waldersee; editing by Friederike Heine, Kim Coghill, Louise Heavens and Christian Schmollinger)
