The European Commission said it cleared plans by Investcorp Group unit Investcorp Financial and Investment Services SA and Chase Capital Investments, part of Chase Manhattan Corp., to buy German pac…
The European Commission said it cleared plans by Investcorp Group unit Investcorp Financial and Investment Services SA and Chase Capital Investments, part of Chase Manhattan Corp., to buy German packaging and glassware company Gerresheimer Glas AG. The investment companies have offered Euros 15 per Gerresheimer share to buy 72.69% of the glassmaker from Viag AG, which has since merged with Veba AG to form E.ON. The purchase offer has been extended until July 7 2000. Originally it was to have run between May 22 and June 26. At the AGM, shareholders criticized the cash offer as too low, even though it is above the Euros 13 being paid by the investor group to the current majority owner Viag. The shareholders think Euros 215 million for 72.96% of the shares is too little as in the Veba/Viag merger report Gerresheimer is valued at Euros 312 million. The shareholder associations therefore called on the outstanding shareholders to turn down the voluntary purchase offer. The supervisory board chairman Rainer Grohe, a board member at the then Viag AG, said Viag was very happy with the price.