Saxo Bank has just announced that its takeover bid for Dutch online broker BinckBank is now unconditional, having claimed over 95 percent of the company’s shares.
To remind, BinckBank received an Acquisition offer from Denmark-based Saxo Bank at for €6.35 per share, valuing it at €424 million ($472 million). The offer was subject to an 80 percent minimum acceptance condition, and the Forex bank seemingly intended to terminate the proposed acquisition in the case this threshold is not satisfied.
Earlier last week, Saxo Bank secured the approvals of the Dutch regulator and the European central bank to proceed with its offer.
Saxo’s stake in BinckBank now stands at 95.14 percent of “the aggregate issued and outstanding share capital,” and shareholders who accepted the offer will now receive their consideration within seven business days of acceptance being received.
Regarding BinckBank’s shareholders who have not tendered their shares during the offer period, they have two weeks to do so before Saxo closes the acceptance period.
The BinckBank board has already recommended that shareholders should accept the offer, in the absence of another superior offer, describing it as fair and reasonable.
Kim Fournais, CEO and founder of Saxo Bank, commented: “We are extremely pleased that the shareholders of BinckBank agree with our rationale to combine Saxo Bank and BinckBank. This is a win-win for all parties, clients, employees and last but not least the shareholders. With reaching the 95.14 per cent of shares we can now call the offer unconditional and start working on combining our forces to further improve our products and services for our customers.”
Vincent Germyns, CEO of BinckBank, added: “Today heralds another milestone in the history of BinckBank. The support of our shareholders confirms that we made the right decision to enter into this transaction. We are confident that remaining shareholders will use the post acceptance period to tender their shares so that we can ensure a smooth finalization of the process. We are looking forward to working together with the Saxo Bank team in making this happen.”
