From Rubber & Plastics News
Hanover, Germany-Continental AG reports it has acquired more than 50 percent of the outstanding shares of industrial rubber products maker Phoenix AG, and management is confident it can achieve its goal of garnering 75 percent before the 28 June deadline.
Conti is buying Phoenix shares at $18 apiece. It announced its open bid for Phoenix in April, seeking to strengthen its ContiTech non-tire products business internationally, especially in the fluid transfer, conveyor belt and air spring systems businesses.
The executive and supervisory boards of Phoenix earlier classified Conti's takeover offer “reasonable†but stopped short of recommending shareholders accept it.
Should Conti succeed in its bid, it will have spent close to $275 million in buying up shares. Conti claimed at the time it launched its bid to have the support of Phoenix's two largest shareholders, who controlled 37 percent of the firm's stock at that time.
