Morgan Stanley extends PNE bid and drops minimum acceptance level

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) on Wednesday removed the minimum acceptance level for its tender offer targeting PNE AG (ETR:PNE3) shares and also extended the bid for two more weeks.

The offer of EUR 4.00 (USD 4.40) per share made by MSIP’s Photon Management GmbH was supposed to end today, but has been extended until December 12. The bidder launched it with the goal of securing a stake of over 50% in the German wind project developer and immediately delisting the company. At the offer price, the value of PNE’s equity amounted to EUR 306 million.

The minimum acceptance condition, though, has now been waived. One of PNE’s top 10 shareholders, Enkraft Capital GmbH, has been fighting for this since the offer was announced, claiming that the planned delisting would devalue the shares if many shareholders are left after the tender offer. Furthermore, Enkraft believes that the current bid is insufficient and claims that a fair one should stand between EUR 6.90 and EUR 7.10 per share.

After the waiver was announced, Enkraft managing director Benedict Kormaier expressed his satisfaction with the development, but also urged PNE’s current management to resign.

“The plan of PNE’s management to help Morgan Stanley become the majority shareholder of PNE has failed. Therefore, the delisting of PNE should be off the table,” he added. Still, Kormaier noted that “it is great to have Morgan Stanley as a large minority investor in PNE.”

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.101)

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