Mexico’s Mexichem to acquire Dutch rival Wavin for $703 million

Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem SAB de CV finally won acceptance from its European rival Wavin N V, after raising its takeover offer for the third time to €531 million ($703 million).

Under the deal, which will make Mexichem the global leader in plastic pipe systems, the Mexico City-based plastic pipe maker has offered €10.50 per share, up from its previous offer of €10 and €9 prior to that, and above its November 2011 original offer of €8.50.

The sweetened offer represents a 177 per cent premium to Wavin's closing share price on 18 November 2011, when it first tabled the bid.

Zwolle, Netherlands-based Wavin, which has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch as financial advisor and Stibbe as legal counsel, had rejected all previous bids by saying that the offers were too low, including Wavin's biggest shareholder Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd, which indicated it wanted a higher bid.

Wavin's management and supervisory board have agreed to support the offer. "The combined group will have a more diversified end-market profile across the residential, non-residential and infrastructure segments exposing it to different economic and construction cycles," the two companies said in a joint statement.

Henk ten Hove, CEO of Wavin told reporters that he expects shareholders to support the new offer as it was "good and fair."