Uniper Calls for Fortum Offer's Rejection
As expected, Germany's Uniper has urged shareholders to reject a takeover bid by Finland’s Fortum, two weeks after it advised them to “refrain from accepting the takeover offer."
Uniper CEO Klaus Schafer said November 21 that “Fortum’s offer is unacceptable as it does not reflect Uniper’s true value,” adding that it “does not clearly state what its true intentions are.” Uniper chairman and former Ruhrgas CEO Bernhard Reutersberg went further saying: “Fortum’s offer puts the successful future development of Uniper at risk.”
The company said its management, supervisory board, and group works council were united on this, and added that two prominent investment banks had also backed up its view that the offer was “not fair.”
Uniper said that Fortum is not paying a control premium with the offer price, and yet it is expected to acquire at least the 46.65% stake from E.ON, Uniper’s former outright owner.
It also argued that Fortum would provide no strategic benefit as its “focus is on CO2-free generation and has no significant expertise in thermal power generation outside of Russia,” contrasting with Uniper’s activity in fossil-fuel energy supply and trading and power generation, and its global reach.
Fortum said two months ago its offer of €22 ($25.8)/share values E.on’s 46.65% stake at €3.76bn, and 100% of Uniper at €8.05bn. The Finnish group formalised its offer November 7.