VW eyes big with MAN bid
By Jan Schwartz and Maria Sheahan |
June 1, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GERMAN car maker Volkswagen formally launched its bid for MAN yesterday, in a move toward creating Europe's biggest truck maker.
VW's chairman Ferdinand Piech has long been itching to combine MAN and Sweden's Scania to take on the world's biggest truck maker, Daimler, and number two Volvo, but has been hampered by anti-trust issues and resistance from Scania.
VW aims first to raise its stake in MAN to 35-40 percent of voting rights from just over 30 percent now, which is just enough to get regulatory approval for closer cooperation between MAN and Scania without buying the whole company.
VW made a deliberately low offer of 95 euros (US$137) per ordinary share for MAN yesterday, 1.8 percent below the current market value of 96.69 euros per share.
Under German takeover rules if few investors accept the mandatory offer, which values MAN at about 13.8 billion euros, VW can then go on to gradually buy up shares in the market.
Eventually, VW envisages having a combined trucks group which saves about 400 million euros of costs per year, mainly by bundling procurement.
"The remaining business activities of Volkswagen Group and particularly Scania will not be affected by realizing these synergies," VW said in the offer document.
MAN said it saw industrial logic and potential savings in a deal with VW, adding it would further comment on the offer within two weeks.
VW, which is being advised on the deal by Credit Suisse, is making its offer five years after MAN tried and failed to take over Scania.
VW's chairman Ferdinand Piech has long been itching to combine MAN and Sweden's Scania to take on the world's biggest truck maker, Daimler, and number two Volvo, but has been hampered by anti-trust issues and resistance from Scania.
VW aims first to raise its stake in MAN to 35-40 percent of voting rights from just over 30 percent now, which is just enough to get regulatory approval for closer cooperation between MAN and Scania without buying the whole company.
VW made a deliberately low offer of 95 euros (US$137) per ordinary share for MAN yesterday, 1.8 percent below the current market value of 96.69 euros per share.
Under German takeover rules if few investors accept the mandatory offer, which values MAN at about 13.8 billion euros, VW can then go on to gradually buy up shares in the market.
Eventually, VW envisages having a combined trucks group which saves about 400 million euros of costs per year, mainly by bundling procurement.
"The remaining business activities of Volkswagen Group and particularly Scania will not be affected by realizing these synergies," VW said in the offer document.
MAN said it saw industrial logic and potential savings in a deal with VW, adding it would further comment on the offer within two weeks.
VW, which is being advised on the deal by Credit Suisse, is making its offer five years after MAN tried and failed to take over Scania.
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