EMS Chemie bids half a billion francs for Axantis
The Swiss chemicals group, EMS-Chemie, has launched a takeover bid for another Swiss firm, cellulose-maker Axantis.
The bid, which offers shareholders SFr330 ($190.75) per share, beats an existing SFr310 per share offer by Model Gruppe.
At a news conference in Zurich, the head of EMS-Chemie, the billionaire right-wing politician and businessman, Christoph Blocher, said the takeover move represented a welcome expansion of his firm's products.
EMS paved the way for its takeover bid by buying out the 366,000 shares (21 per cent) held by Model and the Julius Bär bank last Friday.
With 1,728,000 registered shares, the EMS bid values Axantis at SFr570 million.
The EMS bid will run from January 4 to February 1 and is conditional on it obtaining at least 67 per cent of the shares.
Model formally announced on Monday it was withdrawing its bid for Axantis.
Shares in Ems dropped slightly after the announcement, while Axantis shares were slightly higher.
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