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Acceptance period for Adnoc’s Covestro takeover bid kicks off: The acceptance period for Adnoc’s voluntary public takeover offer for German chemicals manufacturer Covestro has started and will end on 27 November, Reuters reports.
What’s an acceptance period? Under German law, the acceptance period starts as soon as the official offer documents are published, and can be extended in the event of a rival bid with a longer acceptance period or if the offer is amended in the final two weeks of the acceptance period, or if the target firm requests a general meeting. The company is required to publish the acceptance rate of the offer among voting shareholders weekly until the start of the final week of the period and daily during the final week. A grace period of two weeks following the end of the acceptance period will be available for shareholders who have yet to accept the offer.
The details: The offer price is set at EUR 62 per share (c. USD 67.06), which amounts to a premium of some 54% over Covestro’s unaffected share price prior to the announcement, making it the biggest acquisition from a Middle Eastern buyer in Europe in 16 years.
Background: Adnoc has been in ongoing negotiations for the takeover for more than a year. Earlier this month, Adnoc confirmed its agreement to acquire Covestro for EUR 14.7 bn (c. USD 16.3 bn), which includes EUR 3 bn in debt. The state-owned oil giant plans to purchase EUR 1.17 bn worth of new shares from Covestro as part of a 10% capital increase.
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