Merger discusssions between CEE-focused firms Immofinanz, S-Immo and CPI Property Group have taken another turn with the news of two fresh takeover bids for Immofinanz.
While CPI Group notified shareholders on 3 December that it had launched a mandatory takeover offer for all outstanding shares of Immofinanz priced at €21.20, Austrian peer S-Immo countered that on 4 December with a €23.00 per share bid for Immofinanz.
CPI is currently the largest shareholder in Immofinanz with a stake of about 21.4%, after inking recent deals with the market and minority shareholder Mountfort Investments.
CPI announced it had also reached a deal with RPPK Immo for its 10.6% stake in Immofinanz, conditional on receipt of antitrust approvals. RPPK is controlled by Peter Korbacka's Eurovea. This deal would bring CPI's stake to around 32%.
S-Immo, meanwhile, owns a 14.2% share in Immofinanz, while Immofinanz owns 26.5% of S-Immo, making it the largest shareholder in its smaller peer.
To date, Immofinanz and S-Immo had failed to agree terms for a full merger, prompting CPI to press ahead with both its new Immofinanz bid and buy a 10.8% share in S-Immo, adding to its current 11.6% stake in the latter firm.
However, S-Immo said that it was now making a fresh offer for Immofinanz as it did not consider the price offered in CPI's mandatory bid to be 'attractive', underlining that S-Immo would not accept CPI's proposal for its Immofinanz shares. S-Immo also signalled its intentions to try and add to its Immofinanz holdings via other routes.
Immofinanz said it took note of the latest bids and would review the offers in due course before releasing comment.
