Engineering group Bosch launches offer for solar specialist ersol
FRANKFURT (AFP) — German engineering group Bosch unveiled on Friday an offer for shares in the solar energy company ersol that values the firm at more than one billion euros (1.57 billion dollars).
The program first announced in June has been approved by German authorities and offers 101 euros per ersol share, "a very attractive premium of 68.3 percent" compared with its average price over the past three months, a statement said.
The public offer runs until August 8, Bosch said.
As part of its takeover, the German group is to pay 546 million euros for a holding of more than 50 percent in ersol owned by the investment fund Ventizz.
Bosch already has bought 28 percent of the solar company on the stock market, and shareholders that own 3.56 percent have told Bosch they are ready to sell as well, giving it a minimum stake of more than 80 percent.
The public offer would allow small shareholders to profit from anticipated development of the sector, "despite the potential mid-term challenges in the solar industry," the statement said.
Bosch's takeover is seen by specialists as the start of a consolidation that would see the emerging alternative energy sector coalesce into fewer, bigger firms, or into large divisions controlled by established industrial groups.
