Ansaldo Sts is positive in Piazza Affari and rises by 0,86% to 9,94 euros above the price of the Hitachi tender offer, revised upwards by Consob on Wednesday evening. The Stock Exchange Commission has revised the price to 9,899 euros from 9,50 euros (+4,2%), deciding to extend the public offer by a couple of weeks and fixing the new deadline February 19, 2016.
“Consob – reads the note released on Wednesday evening – in the context of the investigation initiated at the request of two minority shareholders, has ascertained, with reference to a unitary transaction which led the seller, Finmeccanica Spa, to sell to the Hitachi group the approximately 40.% stake held in Ansaldo Sts and at the same time also the Ansaldo Breda business unit, theexistence of a collusion between Hitachi and Finmeccanica, aimed at paying the seller a higher consideration than that declared by the bidder“. Amber Capital and Bluebell Partners had appealed to Consob and the whole affair had raised doubts among analysts and within the same board of directors of Ansaldo Stst by the independent directors, expressed precisely by the minorities.
In particular, Consob points out, "in the light of what emerged from the preliminary investigation, Hitachi acknowledged to Finmeccanica, through the overvaluation of the Breda business unit, quantified at 32 million euros, an additional price component with respect to the price agreed for the purchase of the stake in Ansaldo Sts and communicated by the parties on 24 February 2015. This additional component of 32 million euros divided by the number of Ansaldo shares Sts object of the transfer (80.131.081 shares), is equivalent to a higher value per share equal to 0,399 euro".
