Křetínský, who is acting in agreement with his long-time business companion Patrik Tkáč, wants to take over all ordinary shares and all the remaining preference shares of Metro. The estimated offer price per ordinary share is approximately EUR 8.49 and approximately EUR 8.87 per preferred share. EP Global Commerce (EPGC) announced this in a press release.
The offer is not subject to any minimum limit on the number of shares offered. Its aim is to increase the share of EPGC in the German retail chain above the 30% threshold and thus gain more flexibility on how to proceed.
The cash offer price for the ordinary and preference shares corresponds to the statutory minimum price, which is equal to the amount corresponding to the relevant weighted average stock exchange price of Metro shares during the last three months. On Friday, the shares closed at 8.32 euros.
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Billionaires entered the German wholesale chain, which is owned by Makro wholesalers on the domestic market, in the summer of 2018. The investment is held through the aforementioned company EP Global Commerce, where Křetínský has a 53 percent share, the rest of the company is owned by Tkáč. Both are also co-owners of the Czech News Center publishing house, which also operates the economic website E15.cz.
The billionaire duo began investing in the German company by buying 7.3 percent of Metro’s ordinary shares from Haniel in the summer of 2018. “We appreciate the fact that we were able to become a major shareholder in Metro AG,” commented Daniel Křetínský. In addition to the shares, EPGC also acquired a pre-emptive right to an additional 15.2 percent of Metro’s shares held by Haniel.
Gradually, Křetínský and Tkáč increased their share when they bought the last shares from Haniel last October, thus gaining 29.99 percent of the company’s ordinary shares in the German retail chain.
The company’s shares are not doing very well this year, having lost over forty percent of their value since the beginning of the year.
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