ATON raises stake in Murray & Roberts in takeover attempt

28-03-2018
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Moneyweb
Source

German investor purchases over 13m shares at R15 each.

German investor ATON said on Thursday it had raised its stake in Murray & Roberts to 33.1% as it seeks to takeover the engineering and construction firm despite management opposition.

ATON said after market close it had agreed to buy 13 671 480 ordinary shares in M&R for R15 per share. It did not say from whom it had made the purchase. The shares closed at R13.80 on Thursday, up 2.2%.

It added it had also agreed to buy a further 29 005 926 shares from investment management company Allan Gray, M&R’s third largest stakeholder, for R15, which would further raise its stake to 39.6%.

M&R previously rejected ATON’s buyout offer as “opportunistic” and poor value. M&R is reluctant to sell cheaply, having spent billions of rand transforming itself from a local builder to a multinational focused on the natural resources sector.

ATON said it would be for M&R shareholders to decide on the offer.

Financial services conglomerate Old Mutual, , which holds about 5% of M&R, rejected an offer from ATON to buy its stake at R15 per share on Wednesday, saying that the offer was below fair value.

ATON, with a diverse portfolio of investments in the mining, engineering, aviation and health technology sectors, is making its second attempt at a deal after a previous approach failed in 2016.