Equipment supplier Palfinger Marine says it has terminated its offer to buy Norwegian cargo handling equipment company TTS because insufficient TTS shareholders had accepted its offer by the deadline of 12 August, even though the TTS board of directors had recommended acceptance.
- Palfinger Marine aims to acquire 100% of the Norwegian TTS Group shares
- Palfinger Marine GmbH to acquire TTS Group ASA
Palfinger said in a statement: “With reference to the voluntary offer for the outstanding shares in TTS Group ASA as announced on 19 June 2016 and the approval of the offer document for the offer by Oslo Børs as announced on 18 July 2016, Palfinger Marine GmbH announces that it has not received acceptances for more than 90 per cent of the shares in TTS on a fully diluted basis and the offer will not be completed. The acceptance period for the Offer expired on 12 August 2016.
“At expiry of the acceptance period, Palfinger had not received acceptances of the offer exceeding more than 90 per cent on a fully diluted basis, being one of the closing conditions of the offer as further described in the Offer Document. As a result, Palfinger will not complete the offer.
“Shareholders in TTS who have accepted the offer are released from their acceptances, and bondholders under TTS’s existing bond loan having entered into separate undertakings towards Palfinger are released from their undertakings.
It is not yet clear whether this marks the end of Palfinger’s efforts to acquire TTS or whether it will make a different approach in the future.
by Steve Matthews
