Edipresse shares to disappear from stock exchange
The shares of the Western Swiss publishing house Edipresse are set to be delisted. The Lamunière family, which owns the company, plans to buy back the few remaining shares that are not yet under its control.
For this, it is offering 88.90 Swiss francs net per registered share and 444.50 Swiss francs per bearer share after deduction of the planned dividend payment, as the publishing house announced in a communiqué on Tuesday. The Lamunière family currently controls 87.3 percent of the share capital and 93.4 percent of the votes.
The takeover bid was the consequence of the sale of Edipresse's Swiss business to Tamedia. Since the Merger with the Tamedia business under the Zurich umbrella was to be completed this year, it no longer made sense to list Edipresse on the stock exchange after the sale of the most important part of the company. Originally, the merger was not planned until the beginning of 2013.
The buyback offer is now intended to enable minority shareholders to exit the shares on reasonable terms before they are delisted. The tender offer is expected to run from June 17 until 4 p.m. on June 30, it said.
At midday on Tuesday, bearer shares were still trading at 480 Swiss francs, well above the buyback price, despite a 4 percent drop; at the same time, registered shares with a par value five times lower still cost 96 Swiss francs. (SDA)
