Publigroupe agrees to takeover by Swisscom
Publigroupe wants to be acquired by Swisscom. The board of directors is therefore recommending that shareholders sell their shares to Swisscom for 214 francs each. The takeover is now also being reviewed by FINMA.
This is an increased offer that Swisscom is making to Publigroupe for all outstanding shares. However, the Publigroupe Board of Directors rejects the offer of CHF 190 per share from the Zurich-based media group Tamedia. However, Tamedia and Swisscom are already working together in the battle for Publigroupe: The two companies agreed on a joint approach at the end of May. Swisscom's takeover of Publigroupe is part of the plan. Swisscom and Tamedia will then merge the companies Local.ch and Search.ch into a joint subsidiary.
Takeover now also occupies Finma
The Takeover Committee of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) now also has to deal with the Publigroupe takeover on a side issue: Tamedia has challenged a ruling by the Swiss Takeover Board (TOB) and filed an appeal with the Takeover Committee, i.e. the next higher instance of the TOB. This concerns the TOB's ruling that Tamedia's public purchase offer for Publigroupe of 11 May must be adjusted. Tamedia only wanted to take over the advertising marketer on the condition that its loss-making subsidiary Publicitas was actually sold. According to the TOB, this condition does not comply with the legal provisions on public takeover bids, according to a statement issued by the Finma Takeover Committee on Tuesday. (SDA)
