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UPDATE: Melrose Says Disregard Press Report On GKN Holder Acceptances

23rd Mar 2018 14:44

LONDON (Alliance News) - Melrose Industries PLC said Friday that an article by Mergermarket reporting that Melrose was confident it will meet the 50.1% minimum threshold for shareholder acceptances of its offer for GKN PLC should be disregarded.

The group said that no spokesperson from Melrose made the comments, and also pointed out a "number of inaccuracies" in the article concerning a possible extension of the deadline for acceptances and the date for which all regulatory approval must be obtained.

"On the basis of these discussions," Melrose explained, "if and to the extent that CFIUS and DSS approvals have not been received before 17 April 2018, Melrose confirms it will waive the CFIUS and DSS conditions to its offer by no later than 17 April 2018 so as to allow the offer to become unconditional in all respects by no later than 19 April 2018."

Melrose said earlier on Friday it will waive some US regulatory clearance requirements from its GBP8.4 billion hostile offer for GKN amid the possibility not receiving approval in time for the deal to become unconditional.

Investors in FTSE 100-listed engineer GKN have until 1300 BST on March 29 to approve Melrose's offer which was raised to GBP8.4 billion earlier in March from the initial GBP7.1 billion announced in January.

Melrose said it "continues to have constructive discussions" with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the US Defense Security Service regarding obtaining clearance for the deal within its currently expected timetable.

The FTSE 250-listed industrial turnaround specialist said it was having "detailed discussions" with regards to "potential interim mitigation measures" which would leave untouched current existing mitigation arrangements pending receipt of approval.

In early February, GKN had argued it beloved the CFIUS approval process for the Melrose deal was "likely to take substantially longer" than the announced offer timetable "based on specialist US legal advice."

Shortly after GKN's assertion, Melrose responded by stating it believed it "will be able to obtain the relevant clearances" within the timetable period.

Shares in Melrose were 1.1% lower at 219.30 pence on Friday, GKN were down 0.7% at 426.80 pence.


Related Shares:

MelroseGKN PLC
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