A statement issued by Albalact states that Lactalis has reached an agreement with Raul and Lorena Ciurtin, Crisware Holdings Limited, Croniar Holdings Limited and RC2 (Cyprus) Limited, holding in aggregate 70.3% of the share capital of Albalact.
The agreement is subject to approval from the Romanian Competition Council and other conditions. The statements says that, subject to these conditions being satisfied, Lactalis “intends to launch a voluntary public take-over bid targeting 100% of the shares owned by the shareholders of Albalact, having received firm commitments by the selling shareholders to contribute all of their shares to the public take-over.”
A spokesperson for Lactalis confirmed to DairyReporter that they had made the move, and said that “it is a long process - we made a discussion with the main shareholders, and if we get the approval of the authorities, we will be able to issue a public offer.”
The spokesperson said the company is optimistic it can “take a leading position in Romania after this move, if everything goes alright.”
The statement notes that 636,366,282 shares are available (not including treasury shares), making the takeover worth $69m (RON 289m). The release states that, based on an adjusted debt amount of $28.4m (RON 118.2m), this would translate into a price per share of $0.11 (RON 0.4543), a premium of 37% over the closing stock price on January 27, 2016.
Albalact has range of products
Albalact’s announcement does, however, state that, “Because of the conditions precedent of the agreement between Selling Shareholders and Lactalis and due to the requirement for the price to be set at a future date, there is no certainty that the agreement will be at the price illustrated above or at all.”
Albalact told DairyReporter that they could not currently comment on the announcement.
Established in 1971, Albalact produces not only milk but also butter, sour cream, yogurt and cheese for the Romanian market. It employees more than 1,000 people in three companies. Its brands include Zuzu, Fulga and Poiana Florilor.