Shares in Spanish train manufacturer Talgo rose by 7% on Monday following an announcement by Poland’s state-owned investment fund PFR that it intends to bid for the company, Reuters reports.
In a filing to Spain’s stock market regulator CNMV, PFR confirmed its plan to submit an offer in the coming days for the 40% stake currently held by investment alliance Pegaso Transportation.
This move introduces a competing bid against a Basque consortium, which includes shareholders of steelmaker Sidenor, the Basque regional government, and local bank Kutxabank. Last Thursday, the consortium offered up to EUR 4.80 per share for a 29.8% stake in Talgo, valuing the company at nearly EUR 595 million.
PFR stated that its Talgo bid would include a public acquisition offer for 100% of Talgo’s shares but did not disclose a proposed price. Under Spanish regulations, any investor acquiring more than 30% of a listed company must launch a full takeover offer.
Talgo has not commented on the announcement.
The Basque consortium’s offer targeted a 29.8% stake owned by the investment fund Trilantic, which is part of the Pegaso alliance.
Following the news, Talgo’s shares climbed 7.2% to EUR 4.16 as of 10:48 am on Monday, having peaked at EUR 4.23 earlier in the day.
Previous attempts to acquire Talgo
The Council of Ministers in Madrid decided “not to approve foreign direct investment in Talgo S.A. launched by Ganz Mavag Europe Private Limited, for reasons related to the protection of the strategic interests and national security of Spain.”
As 45% of Ganz-Mavag shares are owned by the Hungarian state company Corvinus, the main speculation was that the Spanish Government has an issue with Viktor Orban’s political leanings and is afraid about potential political interference with one of Spain’s strategic companies.
The Škoda Group has also recently made a merger offer to Talgo. Talgo said it had asked Skoda for detailed information to be able to evaluate whether it surpasses the EUR 619 million (USD 674 million) in cash offered by Ganz-Mavag on March 7.
The Spanish manufacturer said at the time that Škoda Group’s offer cannot compete with that of Ganz-MaVag
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