May 24 (SeeNews) - Croatia's state-owned fund for enterprise restructuring and privatisation, CERP, said it will keep its shareholding interest of 25.05% in port operator Luka Rijeka [ZSE:LKRI], thus effectively rejecting a takeover offer submitted by Czech company Port Acquisitions.
The Croatian government will keep its 3,372,674 shares in Luka Rijeka, CERP said in a press release on Tuesday. The decision was taken on May 18.
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Port Acquisitions, fully owned by Czech industrial group CE Industries, launched the takeover bid for the 65.58% interest it does not already own in the Croatian company earlier this month, offering to pay 8.40 euro ($9.05) per share. Port Acquisitions became obliged to make the bid in March when its shareholding interest in Luka Rijeka reached 34.42%, passing beyond the legally defined threshold of 25%. Besides CERP and Port Acquisitions, Luka Rijeka has six local pension funds among its shareholders.
Earlier this month, the management and trade unions at Luka Rijeka [ZSE:LKRI] said that the takeover bid raises a number of questions regarding the viability of development plans.
On Tuesday, Luka Rijeka’s shares closed flat at 8.30 euro on the Zagreb Stock Exchange. They did not trade by midday on Wednesday.
($ = 0.928 euro)