German chemical major BASF AG (ETR:BAS) said Wednesday it would launch a voluntary public cash offer to acquire Norwegian omega-3 fatty acids producer Pronova BioPharma ASA (PINK:PVNAY) in a deal with an enterprise value of NOK4.845bn (USD843m/EUR660m).
The parties have agreed upon the offer, which will be executed via BASF’s fully-controlled Norwegian arm, BASF AS. Pronova’s board and management have recommended stockholder acceptance of the NOK12.50-per-share bid, which is 24% higher than the volume-weighted average share price for Pronova’s stock for the last six months.
BASF said it intends to bankroll the offer with available resources.
So far, the German company has secured pre-acceptance commitments for some 60% of Pronova, including the 50% interest held by Herkules Private Equity Fund via Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-I) LP and Herkules Private Equity (Jersey-II) LP, some 9.1% indirectly held by Kistefos AS and Kistefos Investment AS and a 0.3% interest held by Pronova board members and managers.
Through the planned takeover, BASF expects to considerably beef up its presence in the omega-3 fatty acids market.
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