Eckert & Ziegler to Make Public Take-Over Bid for IBt
Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG / Offer
28.12.2009
Dissemination of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Berlin, December 28th, 2009. -- Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik (ISIN DE0005659700) have submitted today an application file with the Belgian financial authority CBFA for a public take-over bid in cash for all outstanding 10.96 mm shares of EURONEXT listed medical device producer International Brachytherapy SA (IBt). The bid, jointly submitted with fellow IBt shareholder Steglitz MedInvest UG (SMI), offers 3.64 EUR per share, and hence has a maximum volume, at full acceptance, of about 40 mm EUR. The prospectus and the memorandum in response for the bid will be published after approval by the CBFA, which is expected to occur by the end of January 2010.
With the take-over bid, Eckert & Ziegler and SMI aim at ending the ongoing litigation around IBt that now has lasted for almost twelve months. In order to facilitate a quick conclusion to all deadlocks, Eckert & Ziegler and SMI decided to proceed with a voluntary performance of the injunction that the Belgian financial authority CBFA had issued on 28 April 2009 and 27 May 2009, ordering both Eckert & Ziegler and SMI to launch a mandatory public takeover bid on IBt at 3.47 per share. Further, Eckert & Ziegler and SMI have increased the initial asking price of 3.47 EUR per share by the applicable legal interest (5.5%) to a price of 3.64 EUR per share, so that their offer also satisfies all claims brought forward against Eckert & Ziegler and SMI in a separate lawsuit by IBt shareholder Creafund II SCA.
Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News:
Eckert & Ziegler has contested in court that a legal requirement for a take-over bid exists, in particular for an offer against cash, and still maintains that this is not the case. However, due to the strong profit growth and interesting prospects at IBt, the issue has lost its significance: during the last months, the shares of IBt on Euronext Brussels have consistently traded above the requested consideration. The sustained turn around in IBt profits, the project in Russia, and lately an option contract that opens the re-entry into the U.S. market, make it in any case desirable for Eckert & Ziegler to assume control over IBt, either directly or in co-operation with others. Similarly, ending the court cases and assuming control offers the quickest chance to remove a number of paralyzing impasses that has accumulated within IBt.
Eckert & Ziegler AG, Karolin Riehle, Investor Relations Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13125 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0) 30 / 94 10 84-138, Fax -112
E-Mail: karolin.riehle@ezag.de, www.ezag.com
28.12.2009 Ad hoc announcement, Financial News and Media Release distributed by DGAP. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
Language: English
Company: Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG Robert-Rössle-Str.10
13125 Berlin
Deutschland
Phone: 49 30 941084-138
Fax: 49 30 941084-112
E-mail: karolin.riehle@ezag.de
Internet: www.ezag.de
ISIN: DE0005659700, DE000A0L1L69
WKN: 565970, A0L1L6
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Düsseldorf, Hamburg
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