Deminor views the results of the voluntary reopening by Orange SA (OSA) of its offer for Orange Belgium’s (OBEL) shares as a significant failure for the bidder, in particular given its initial objective to delist OBEL’s shares.
Deminor notes that nearly 200 minority shareholders have reached out to it, and that Polygon has maintained its position and rejected once again the price of EUR 22.
As announced, the results of the reopened offer were released on 6 May 2021 through a press release issued by OSA. After the closing of the acceptance period of the reopened offer on 4 May, the bidder was only able to obtain 1,370,656 additional OBEL shares. As a result, OSA currently holds, directly and indirectly, 46,191,064 OBEL shares, including treasury shares, or 76.97% of the capital. After the reopening of its takeover bid at the same conditions, OSA was only able to obtain 50.97% of the OBEL shares targeted by the offer.
The opposition of Polygon and the minority shareholders who have contacted Deminor and who did not want to be forced to sell their shares at the price of EUR 22 was, in our view, a significant success.
Contact person: Pierre-Alexis Léonard, Managing Partner
Phone: +32 2 674 71 10
Email: orange@deminor.com or pierre-alexis.leonard@deminor.com
