Buzzi Unicem not to raise Dyckerhoff offer
Italian cement maker Buzzi Unicem will not raise its offer for minority sharesholders in Dyckerhoff any further, Buzzi’s chief executive said in a German news reports.
"We will under no circumstances raise our offer," Pietro Buzzi told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in an interview.
In November Buzzi had increased its offer for Dyckerhoff’s ordinary shares to 42 euros ($55.04) per share from 40 euros each, and for the preferred shares to 40 euros per share from 37.50 euros each.
On Friday Dyckerhoff shares closed at 42.54 euros, while its preferred shares finished at 40.89 euros.
"You will always find somebody who thinks that such an offer will be increased further. We reckon hedge funds might be speculating here," Buzzi told the paper.
Buzzi said he did not want to spend more than about 360 million euros on the complete takeover of Dyckerhoff.
As of Thursday Buzzi held 85.16 percent in Dyckerhoff. For a complete takeover the firm needs to increase its stake to 95 percent. The offer ends on Jan. 15.
Buzzi said he expects sales at Dyckerhoff to rise 2-3 percent in 2007, while he plans to increase its profitability in Germany by around 10 percent in the next five years. Published under Cement News
