The long-awaited relaunch has arrived. One week after the end of the takeover bid, scheduled for 21 April, Crédit Agricole Italia has raised the price of the public tender offer on Creval, meeting the requests of the shareholders of the Sondrio institute in order to convince them to join the project.
THE NEW PRICE
There are 120 million more on the plate. The offer price rises from 10,5 to 12,2 euros per share, to which a bonus of 0,3 euros will be added if the subscriptions reach 90% of the capital, a threshold beyond which it will be possible to proceed with the residual takeover bid . The new price represents a premium of approximately 79% on the average of Creval's quotations on the Stock Exchange in the six months preceding the announcement (therefore before November 2020), a percentage which reaches 83% in the event of full adhesion. The total figure therefore rises from 735 to 854 million euros.
In a note, Crédit Agricole specifies that even the shareholders who accepted the offer before the relaunch will be entitled to receive the new integrated consideration, in the event of exceeding the 90% threshold, with the additional consideration. The reference is above all to Credit Agricole Assurances, owner of a stake equal to 9,8% of the capital, and to Davide Serra's Algebris fund, which owns 5,4% of the capital. Both companies adhered to the offer on 13 April, bringing – overall – a 15,2% stake.
THE REACTIONS
Thanks to the relaunch, Agricole should finally be able to agree not only the top management of Creval, who had judged the price offered "inappropriate", but also shareholders such as Dumont, Alta Global, Hosking Partners, Petrus Advisers and Melqart , which had already asked for a raise before the start of the takeover bid, rejecting the amount proposed by Crédit Agricole. The Stock Exchange performance of the stock over the past five months is at the basis of the resistance. Since November 2020, when Crédit Agricole announced the offer, the shares have been consistently above the 10,5 euros per share previously offered and are now trading at 12,39 euros (+0,4%).
A few days ago, Dumont had reiterated that, while not being "against M&A operations", "the price offered is not adequate at the present and prospective value” of the bank.
The wait now moves on to the Credito Valtellinese board of directors which could already meet over the weekend to evaluate the new offer.
