EG contacted the board on 4 April and submitted an indicative bid with main conditions. At that time, EG had the support of shareholders with an ownership stake of 31.3 percent of the shares, which included the largest shareholder Acapital Cara Holdco, and a group of shareholders consisting of, among others, former chairman Dennis Højer and former CEO Niclas Hugosson.
Based on the interest from the owners, EG demanded due diligence, but it has not been able to agree with the board of Carasent, which has demanded that EG not make the offer known to other shareholders if the board does not approve it. EG does not agree to this, and believes that the shareholders themselves should be allowed to decide whether they want to approve or not.
The board will not accept
In a separate stock exchange announcement, the board of Carasent announced that it will not recommend the bid.
“The price obviously does not add enough value to Carasent’s plan to create value and possible synergies,” the board writes.
The board will still let EG do one due diligence process which can emphasize higher value creation and a price that can provide a basis for an offer that can be accepted.
The buyout fund Vitruvian Partners, which owns 16.6 per cent of Carasent and is represented on the board, has informed the board that they will not accept the offer of NOK 20. This means that the acceptance rate of 80 per cent will probably not be reached, writes the board.
Open to multiple bids
At the capital markets day in November last year, Carasent announced that it had looked at opportunities to move from Oslo Børs to Nasdaq in Stockholm. It is expected that this will happen towards the end of 2024.
Therefore, the board of Carasent has refrained from entering into talks with potential buyers of the company, but now announces that it will grant permission to one or more of the parties that have shown an interest in carrying out due diligenceincluding EG.
