ENGINEERINGNET.EU - SNPE, for 99.9% owned by the French state, has 27.6% or the equivalent of 8,744,069 shares of Tessenderlo Chemie. The state owned company how has decided to sell all shares to Picanol, a Belgian manufacturer of weaving machines, for the price of 22 euros per share, or 192,4 million euros.
The decision comes as a surprise. Picanol is a worldwide operating builder of textile machines, while Tessenderlo Chemie is a worldwide specialty company, focused on food, agriculture, water management and on valorising bio-residuals.
The Tessenderlo group employs about 7,000 people and is a leader in most of its markets, with a consolidated revenue of 2.1 billion euros in 2012. Tessenderlo Chemie is listed on NYSE Eurolist by Euronext Brussels and is part of Next 150 and BEL Mid indices.
Machine builder Picanol Group on the other hand has production facilities in Asia and Europe and realized a consolidated turnover of 461.75 million euros in 2012. It employs 1,950 employees worldwide and is listed on Euronext Brussels.
Picanol states in an official press release it ‘wants to increase the diversity and geographical spread of its activities, in order to better protect itself against the cyclical weaving machine business in which it operates today’.
Another objective of the participation is ‘to secure a stable shareholding for Tessenderlo Chemie and to promote the development of the strategies used by Tessenderlo Chemie’.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval, more in particular competition clearance. The transaction is expected to close at the latest on 8 November 2013. Following the closing of this transaction, SNPE will no longer own any share in Tessenderlo Chemie.
