16 november 2020
17:14
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The offers on Zenitel and Sioen allow investors to skim the horizon to other possible prey on the Brussels stock exchange.
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A takeover bid may come out of the blue for any company, but some constants stand out for family businesses that are being taken off the stock exchange. These are usually healthy companies where debts are under control, which in recent years did not rely on the stock exchange as a source of financing, which are relatively cheap and where the forecasts for the results are favorable. They also often have little regard for contacts with investors or the press.
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The families know their company best and prefer not to pay crazy prices. The Moortgats, for example, managed to delete the brewer Duvel and the Macharis family the cardboard maker VPK in 2013 before both embarked on a significant expansion. Pairi Daiza fiddled with its depreciation methods to dampen the results the year before the delisting. After the stock exchange exit, the visitor figures rose spectacularly thanks to substantial investments. Although there are always exceptions: the timing of Marc Saverys with his bid for the shipping group CMB was not so happy. Afterwards, the shipping rates fell. In shipping, as a shipping company you simply have no control over international prices.
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There is no synergy premium in the case of delisting by the family. A buyer from the same sector can put more money on the table because he can also factor in cost savings or other synergies, such as better purchasing conditions, in his price. Bids by controlling shareholders are therefore slightly more meager.
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Any other business
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De Tijd did one in early 2018 any other business among the analysts for possible takeover candidates. One of the names from the top ten, the IT group RealDolmen, has now been incorporated by the French Gfi Informatique. Zenitel
just missed the top, but was tipped as one of the cheapest prey on the price board, with an enterprise value of barely six times gross operating profit. Recticel
occupied the first place. But last week, the foam rubber specialist put a quarter of a billion euros on the table for Swiss sector colleague FoamPartner, which has significantly reduced the chance of a bid.
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At the family businesses Tessenderlo
in Picanol
most often return as delisting candidates. Topman Luc Tack regularly buys Tessenderlo shares, both personally and through the loom maker Picanol. In 2015 he wanted to merge both. That plan failed because he wasn’t in control at the time. That will not happen to him again. This month he bought another 50 million euros in shares of the chemical group. Thanks to the introduction of double voting rights, he controls 65 percent of the voting rights at Tessenderlo.
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Financing from cash
Also Resilux
appears on many candidate lists. In 2016, the De Cuyper family wanted to sell the PET bottle maker to the private equity group Bain Capital for 190 euros per share, but competition put a stop to this. Resilux combines cheap valuation with growth. But despite its recycling activities, as a plastic player it is unpopular with major investors. An offer by the family can remedy that problem.
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The poorly tradable Accentis is trading almost a third below its book value, which means that even a cheap offer has a chance of success.
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Roularta
also regularly comes up as a delisting tip. The stock market value of the media group consists of 56 percent cash. The De Nolf family can finance a bid without knocking on the door of the banks. This also applies to the construction group Moury Construct
, but reportedly the family is unwilling to exit and is proud of its listing. That is different at the holding Iep Invest
and its real estate subsidiary Accentis
, who barely communicate with investors. The poorly tradable Accentis is trading almost a third below its book value, which means that even a cheap offer has a chance of success. At the end of last year, industrialist Joris Ide sold his 11 percent blocking interest in Accentis to Iep, which made the way to a bid easier.
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Companies that have already referred to the exchange to potentially finance their growth or have recently turned to it are not among the delisting candidates. Think of the project developers Immobel
in VGP
or the Congo holding company Texaf
.
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Previous attempts
Some reference shareholders tried in vain to get their company off the stock exchange. At the beverage company Spadel
Five years ago, CEO Marc du Bois ran into the opposition of minority shareholder André de Barsy, who, together with other investors, succeeded in raising more than 5 percent of the capital. That is the threshold to stop delisting. Du Bois bought all the pieces that were offered. The sellers were wrong, because Spadel costs at 180 euros just not double the bid price of 95 euros.
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Global Graphics
dangles under the offer of 4.25 euros that chairman Guido van der Schueren wanted to put on the table last year. With his demarche, he managed to increase his stake from 28 to 50.1 percent, so that he narrowly gained the majority. For him, the offer was half successful. Van der Schueren did not hide the fact that he might make another attempt to get the software and hardware company for the graphics sector off the stock exchange. In the meantime, Global Graphics is doing excellent operationally. Gross operating profit doubled in the first half year, turnover rose a quarter.
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Bee Telenet
Reference shareholder Liberty Media tried to remove the cable operator from the stock exchange in 2012 at 35 euros each. The price is a fraction below that, but the company has meanwhile paid out hefty coupons. Almost every analyst report refers to speculation about a second try.
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Buying a stock purely from speculation on a bid is never a good strategy. In a study from ten years ago was the maker of industrial washing systems Jensen
the largest delisting candidate, but the share is still listed on the stock exchange. Valuation, growth and strategy remain the best parameters to score on the stock market.
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