04 september 2020
18:28
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Insurer Ageas confirms in a press release that a group of Belgian investors has made a conditional takeover bid. That was rejected because it was considered unrealistic.
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According to Ageas
the investors, collected under the working name BE Group, have made an ‘indicative and highly conditional offer’. But that offer was considered unrealistic and therefore the board of directors decided not to pursue it further. Ageas declined to comment on Friday.
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Belgian investment bank toppers
The BE Group team includes Mark Pensaert, a former star at the investment banks Lazard and Leonardo who is now a member of the Rabobank Board of Directors, and Alexandre Kartalis, who is a director of the Luxembourg investor Advanced Credit Solutions. Kartalis, a Belgian, has years of experience with investment banks such as UBS, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse and was also a shareholder of a subsidiary of the American private equity giant Blackstone for a while.
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It is not clear which names are still behind BE Group. But in the corridors it can be heard that the initiative would not come from a competing insurer, but from private equity firms.
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The investors would have to cough up a lot of capital anyway to bring in Ageas. Currently, the mother of the Belgian market leader AG Insurance has a market value of 7 billion euros.
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‘Dead end’
On the other hand, low interest rates and corona insurers have weighed on the share price in recent months: Ageas is today more than 32 percent lower than on New Year’s Day. That, and the fact that the group now seems to have finally gotten rid of its Fortis millstone, could make Ageas more attractive prey for potential buyers. In addition, the shareholding of the insurer is very fragmented.
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According to Bloomberg, the consortium would not have given up hope yet. But according to the sources contacted by De Tijd, such a scenario seems unlikely. “This is not feasible for financial and other reasons,” says one observer. Another source confirms. “This is not realistic, this is an empty box and ends up at a dead end.”
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