Acron to get 12% in Poland's Azoty Tarnow
MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) - Acron Group will purchase 7.715 million shares in Poland's Azoty Tarnow through an offer, which accounts for 12.03% of the company's charter capital, Acron said in a statement.
It was earlier reported that the company accepted applications from shareholders until July 16 for the sale of their shares. Acron later said that it would purchase all shares presented in the offer. The offer price came to 45 Polish zloty (1 zloty/$0.294) per share. Therefore, Acorn will pay around 350 million Polish zloty, or just over $100 million, for the shares.
Acron was ready to buy up 66% of voting shares in Azoty Tarnow. A third of the company's charter capital belongs to the state. The company offered to sell investors the shares at 36 zloty each but, on July 13, the company raised the offer price by 25% to 45 zloty, which foresaw a 48% premium on the average market price for Azoty Tarnow's shares for the last six months. Based on the offer price, the entire company is valued at around $840 million.
Azoty Tarnow's management was against Acron's offer from the very beginning and has not changed its position after the price increase. Polish authorities have also not given support to the possible transaction.
In order to avert an acquisition by Acron, Azoty Tarnow's management decided to purchase its own Polish competitor, Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy. The shareholders in Azoty Tarnow decided to increase capital by 75% in order to purchase this company. At the same time, Acron said that it is ready to purchase shares in the Polish company only if the risk of share capital dilution is reduced.
Azoty Tarnow is one of the largest chemical holding companies in Europe. The group is the fifth largest producer of polyamides in Europe, the only Polish manufacturer of polyoxymethylene and one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers in Europe.