Funds that stood against EDP’s takeover bid want a place in the Board of EDP Renováveis
Three investment funds managers, which hold over 6% of the Portuguese company's capital, told EDP Renováveis they want a place in its board. The decision will be made on April 3.
Axxion, Moneta Asset Management and Masachusetts Financial Services Company (MFS) want to be represented in the Board of EDP Renováveis. This intention was disclosed by the funds to the company headed by Manso Neto, and they want the decision to be made on the General Assembly that will take place on April 3rd. MFS was one of the funds that stood against EDP’s takeover bid.
“EDP Renováveis, S.A. (“EDPR”) announces that yesterday, March 27th 2018, received a notification from Axxion, SA, Moneta Asset Management and Masachusetts Financial Services Company, announcing the establishment of a group of shareholders with the objective of exercising the right to proportional representation in accordance with article 243 of the Ley de Sociedades de Capital“, is stated in the press release sent to CMVM.
“The entities mentioned above are managers of funds holding a total of 52,381,868 shares, representing 6.0039% of EDPR’s share capital”, hence the request for a board seat in the company headed by Manso Neto.
“The referred group of shareholders intends to exercise the right to the proportional appointment of a member of the Board of Directors of EDPR at the next Annual General Meeting scheduled for April 3rd, 2018, or other subsequent in the event that the appointment of proportional representation does not occur at this time for whatever reasons”, the same press release adds.
MFS is the best known out of these three investment funds, and it is also the fund that holds the largest equity position in EDP Renováveis — a little over 4% equity. This fund has been actively against EDP’s takeover bid on EDP Renováveis last year, offering a 6.75 euros’ consideration.
Considering EDP Renováveis’ assets, MSF estimated that the company’s shares should be negotiated in the market at more than double the 6.75 euros per share EDP was offering. And that considering only the cash flow, EDP Renováveis was worth at least 35% more than EDP’s counteroffer in the takeover bid, in which the electricity company headed by António Mexia ended up purchasing just 5%. Currently, EDP Renováveis is listed at 7.68 euros.
Mexia was not able to get a level of success in the takeover bid that allowed it to be removed from the stock market, but that intention remains the same. EDP’s goal was was disclosed by its financial manager, Nuno Alves, in an interview to Bloomberg: “It has become such an important business that we want to have a majority, if not 100%, of those companies”.
