Italcementi sets Ciments Français price

Italcementi has set an offer price of €79.50 per share to acquire the portion of French subsidiary Ciments Français that it does not already own. The company will finance the transaction with an issue of up to €500 worth of its own new shares.

The company said the offer represented a premium of some 23.6% over the company’s market price on March 5, the last day before the acquisition was announced. The transaction will cost up to €463 million, depending on whether Ciments Français employees exercise stock options they have been granted.

Italcementi said it was going ahead with the deal to simplify its corporate structure and strengthen the group. It will see Ciments Français shares delisted from the Euronext exchange in Paris, France, should Italcementi secure more than 95% of the company’s share capital and voting rights.

Should the 95% benchmark be reached, the company is allowed a mandatory acquisition of the remaining shares at the offer price of €79.50, regardless of whether their holders want to sell. Italcementi said it already holds 83.8% of Ciments Français’s share capital and 91% of the voting rights. It plans to start acquiring the remaining shares in June.