Bid price of Russia’s Acron deemed too low by Poland’s ZAT

17 May 2012 16:50  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Shareholders in Poland’s Zaklady Azoty Tarnow (ZAT) are unlikely to accept the bid price offered for 66% of the chemical group by Russian mineral fertiliser producer Acron Group, ZAT’s CEO said on Thursday.

Acron, which has proposed paying a total of Zl 1.5bn ($440m, €340m) for shares which it has valued at Zl 36 each, would probably have to up its offer to at least Zl 40 per share to obtain a favourable response from shareholders, CEO Jerzy Marciniak said.

“This is the impression we have from talks with our shareholders,” he said.

Pension fund AVIVA, which owns around 9% of ZAT, has described the bid price as “exceptionally unsatisfying”.

The Polish treasury ministry, which holds a 32.05% stake in ZAT and controls the group by voting rights at the board level, said it would not compare Acron’s offer against ZAT’s current market price but rather against the value it believes will be unlocked by the consolidation of the group's 2011 takeovers of Zaklady Azotowe Kedzierzyn (ZAK) and Zaklady Chemiczne Police (ZChP).

Acron said its bid price represents a premium of 18.3% over ZAT's six-month average market price and pointed out the subdued prospects for chemical companies in the coming year given the international economic difficulties.

The ZAT group produces nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers, caprolactam (capro), polyamide 6, oxo-alcohols, plasticisers and titanium dioxide (TiO2).

($1 = €0.79)
($1 = Zl 3.42, €1 = Zl 4.36)

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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