Veolia Agrees to Extend Offer for Engie's Suez Stake
October 01 2020 - 1:47AM
Dow Jones News
By Pietro Lombardi
Veolia Environnement SA agreed late Wednesday to extend its
improved offer to buy a 29.9% stake in waste-management company
Suez SA from Engie SA, as requested by Engie shortly before.
The French resource-management company's decision came after
Engie welcomed the sweetened offer and said it was in line with its
expectations in terms of both price and social guarantees. However,
it asked for an extension of the offer to Oct. 5, which Veolia
granted.
On Wednesday, Veolia increased its offer to Engie to 18 euros
($21.10) for each Suez share from a previous offer of EUR15.50 a
share. Veolia also promised job security for Suez employees in
France in the new offer, and said that it wouldn't launch a hostile
takeover bid for Suez.
"The board therefore considered that this new offer is in line
with its expectations in terms of price and social guarantees,"
Engie said, responding to the new offer. Besides the extension, it
also requested a formal commitment by Veolia to a takeover only on
friendly basis.
The bidder agreed to both requests, saying that it will
formalize its commitment to a friendly takeover by Oct. 5, when the
new offer now expires.
Write to Pietro Lombardi at pietro.lombardi@dowjones.com;
@pietrolombard10
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 01, 2020 01:32 ET (05:32 GMT)
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