January 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian cellulose producer Svilosa [BUL:3MZ] said on Tuesday that its majority owner A.R.U.S. Holding has increased its stake in the company by 3.38% to 96.64% through a buyout offer, priced at 5.5 levs ($3.19/2.81 euro) per share.
A total of 222 private investors and companies have accepted the offer, Svilosa said in a bourse filing.
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As A.R.U.S. Holding's stake in Svilosa exceeded 95% following the bid, the company has the right to squeeze out minority shareholders. At the same time, minority shareholders have the right to force A.R.U.S. Holding to buy their shares at a price of 5.5 levs.
A.R.U.S. Holding initially intended to offer 4.7 levs per each Svilosa share it wanted to acquire but the financial regulator suspended that offer in November, forcing the company to sweeten its bid later that month to 5.5 levs per share.
In October last year, A.R.U.S. Holding, which held a stake of 80.67% of Svilosa at the time, signed an agreement with Luxembourg-based KBD SA for joint management of Svilosa, in accordance to which A.R.U.S. Holding's direct and indirect ownership of the Bulgarian cellulose producer increased to 93.26%.
A.R.U.S. Holding has said it intends to delist Svilosa from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
As at 13:00 CET on Tuesday, Svilosa shared trade unchanged from their previous close at 5.1 levs on the BSE.
Svilosa, through its unit Svilocell, is the largest producer of bleached kraft pulp in Bulgaria.
According to data from the commercial register, private individual Krasimir Dachev holds a 90% stake in A.R.U.S. Holding, while another private individual - Albena Badeva, owns the remaining 10%.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)