Major Demag Shareholder Rejects Terex Takeover Bid as Too Low

June 15, 2011
Terex Corp.’s takeover offer of Demag Cranes was rejected as too low by the German cranemaker’s second-largest shareholder Centaurus Capital. Centaurus, which has about a 5-percent stake in Demag, joins Cevian, Demag’s largest shareholder, in opposing Terex’s bid.

Terex Corp.’s takeover offer of Demag Cranes was rejected as too low by the German cranemaker’s second-largest shareholder Centaurus Capital. Centaurus, which has about a 5-percent stake in Demag, joins Cevian, Demag’s largest shareholder, in opposing Terex’s bid.

Demag’s shares have been trading higher than the €41.75 per share offered by Terex on May 2. Terex’s offer of €883.9 million (about U.S. $1.3 billion) will expire June 30 if the minimum acceptance threshold of 51 percent by Demag shareholders is not reached.

Demag has stated that Terex’s offer did not take into account the sales and profit expansion it expects by the middle of the decade, predicting its annual revenue will be €1.7 million by fiscal 2014-15, a better than 80-percent increase from 2010 revenues.

Terex, to this point, has not expressed willingness to raise the offer.