Spain’s ACS ups ante for Germany’s Hochtief by 12.5 per cent

Spain's largest infrastructure group Actividades de Construccion Servicios SA (ACS) said yesterday that the company has sweetened its cashless offer for German construction major Hochtief AG by 12.5 per cent over its September offer.

Earlier in the day, the Hochtief board, through a separate press release, recommended its shareholders not to accept ACS' previous offer terming it as ''financially inadequate.''

ACS has raised the exchange ratio of the tender offer for all the shares of Hochtief from the earlier 8 shares of ACS for every 5 shares of Hochtief, to 9 shares of ACS for every 5 shares of the German company.

The revised offer corresponds to a value of €64.49 per share of Hochtief, representing a 26.5-per cent premium over the three-month weighted average price of Hochtief share at 16 September, the time of announcement of the initial offer, ACS said in a statement.

The ACS bid values the whole of Hochtief at around €5 billion.

ACS said that the new exchange ratio would also be applicable to shareholders who have already tendered their shares, further stating that all other terms and conditions of the earlier offer remain unchanged.