ITALY: Trading in Ansaldo STS shares is to be suspended on January 28-29, and the shares will be delisted from the Italian stock exchange with effect from January 30, the company announced on January 21. The move marks the completion of the takeover the international signalling group by Hitachi Rail Italy Investments.
Hitachi had acquired a 51% stake in the business from Finmeccanica under an agreement signed on February 24 2015 which included the outright purchase of AnsaldoBreda. That deal saw Hitachi paying €773m for Finmeccanica’s stake in Ansaldo STS, equivalent to €9·65 per share. However, most remaining private investors were unwilling to sell at that price.
On October 29 2018 HRII announced that it had reached agreement to acquire the 32% stake in Ansaldo STS held by investment group Elliott for €807·6m, or €12·70 per share. It then launched an offer to purchase the remaining small shareholdings at the same price, which was open until January 18. Under that programme it acquired around 9 million shares for €119m, representing a further 4·7% stake. Another 6 million shares were acquired through separate negotiations.
When the offer period ended on January 18, HRII had reached a combined holding of 99·156%. Under stock market rules, it is now able to exercise a ‘right to purchase’ for the residual 0·844%, which remains valid for five years.
