Océ shareholders to go to company court

Monday 22 February 2010

There is a real chance that the company court in Amsterdam may this week be asked to look into the takeover of printer maker Océ by Canon because of protests by a number of minority shareholders, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday.

A large group of mainly foreign shareholders are opposed to the takeover because they say it under values the Dutch company.

Investment funds Orbis, Hermes and Sparinvest control some 20% of Océ shares and feel their wishes are being ignored while the red carpet has been rolled out for Canon, the paper says.

In particular they are angry that three members of Océ's supervisory board are to be replaced by Canon representatives - a move agreed at the recent shareholders' meeting.

Prefs

And they are opposed to Océ's decision to convert a number of preference shares into ordinary shares, thereby watering down their stakes.

Canon's has made a cash offer for Océ valuing the company at €730m. The management and supervisory boards both support the bid which represents a premium of 70% over Océ's closing price on 13 November 2009, the last day before details of the offer were made public.

Canon will declare the offer binding if 85% of shares are tendered. The offer closes March 1.

© DutchNews.nl

Comments have been closed for this article.