Aton withdraws its bid for a controlling stake in M&R following a protracted battle
Withdrawal effective from date and time of opening
GERMAN family-owned investment holding firm Aton yesterday withdrew its bid for a controlling stake in Murray & Roberts following a protracted battle between the two companies on valuation.
M&R said Aton announced the withdrawal of the voluntary offer with effect from the date and time at which the offer opened.
“Accordingly, the voluntary offer is withdrawn as at 9am, Tuesday, June 5,” the group said.
Last week, M&R officially rejected the Aton offer for a controlling stake in the JSElisted company, charging that the revised offer of R17 a share was low.
Aton, in return, said it was not satisfied with the explanation that M&R gave for its tie-up with Aveng.
It said the tie-up would impose a significant and unpredictable risk to M&R.
M&R shares fell 3.6 percent
Last week, M&R officially rejected the Aton offer for a controlling stake in the JSE-listed company, saying it was too low.
on the news yesterday to close at R18.50, down from Monday’s closing price of R19.19 a share.
In March, M&R rejected Aton’s buyout offer, which valued the engineering and construction company at nearly R7.13 billion, charging that R20 to R22 a share was fair value based on a report that assessed the offer.
Aton offered to buy the M&R shares that it did not already own for R15 a share.
M&R asked its shareholders to reject the offer and those shareholders who had submitted the required instruction accepting the R15 a share takeover offer from Aton to consider retracting the instruction.
M&R said the offer by Aton “materially undervalues Murray & Roberts based on its prospects and is opportunistic”.
Despite the rejection from M&R, Aton bought 13 671 480 ordinary shares in April in M&R and also agreed to buy a further 29 005 926 shares from investment management company Allan Gray, M&R’s third largest stakeholder, bringing its stake in the company to 39.6 percent.
Aton is the investment holding company.
Its investment portfolio consists of companies that are involved in mining, aviation, engineering and health technology.
M&R announced its proposed acquisition of the financially troubled listed construction group Aveng in an all-share transaction valued at R1 billion.
But it had not yet made a formal offer for Aveng.
M&R’s proposed acquisition of Aveng was criticised by Aton which said that it would not support the transaction.
Aton claimed that the transaction’s “sole intent appears to be to frustrate Aton’s compelling proposition to the shareholders” of M&R.
But M&R denied these claims by stating that it was supported by the board and had received approval months before Aton signalled its intention to bid for M&R.