Realia's board rejects Mexican billionaire's offer as too low

Realia, the indebted Spanish company, has rejected Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's €187 mln takeover offer as too low, and its largest shareholder, FCC, said it does not intend to accept the bid.

Slim is offering €0.58 a share for 307 million shares in Realia, or 100% of the company's capital, plus another 14.5 mln new shares that can be issued before completion of the offer. The offer values the company at €187 mln.

Realia's board had hired investment bank Nomura to give an independent opinion on the offer. 'The counterbid has not been deemed fair for shareholders from a financial standpoint,' Realia said in a note to the Spanish market watchdog CNMV.

FCC, Realia's largest shareholder with a 36% stake, does not intend to tender its shares.

The acceptance period for the takeover offer runs from June 25 to July 24, the same deadline as Hispania Real Socimi's €0.49 a share offer launched earlier this year.

Slim, who is also a shareholder in Spanish construction firm FCC, recently bought a 25% stake in Realia. He paid Bankia €0.58 a share for the stake at the time, the same price it is now offering to buy the rest of the shares. Slim indirectly owns a total 61% interest in Realia through his holding in the company's shareholder FCC.

The move effectively trumped Hispania's lower bid, which valued Realia at €151 mln.

In a statement the Mexican businessman recently said he wanted to clean up Realia and ‘fully develop the opportunities that it has within its reach as a leading company in the sector’.