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Hella:
The headlight specialist is taken over by Faurecia
Photo: David Inderlied / dpa
The headlight specialist Hella is sold to the French auto supplier Faurecia from France. The members of the branching founding family Hueck / Röpke gave the auto supplier Faurecia from Nanterre for four billion euros the contract for their package of 60 percent of the Hella shares, as the headlight specialist from Lippstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia announced. The remaining shareholders will receive a takeover offer for 60 euros per share; in addition - before the sale - there is a dividend of 96 cents. Overall, the family business is valued at 6.8 billion euros.
Faurecia stated that with the takeover of Hella, the aim was to "create the number 7 among global automotive suppliers with a state-of-the-art technology portfolio that covers all of the industry's megatrends". Most recently, according to insiders, the automotive suppliers Plastic Omnium from France and Mahle from Stuttgart have been courting Hella. The takeover bids from competitors are said to have been of a similar magnitude of 60 euros per share.
The members of the Hueck and Röpke family put their stake up for sale in the spring and commissioned the Rothschild investment bank to find a buyer.
manager magazin reported exclusively on the sales plans in April.
The pool contract in which they bundled their shares after Hella went public in 2014 will run for another three years.
The family representative on the shareholders' committee, Jürgen Behrend, is 72 years old.
He had already given up the management of the group in 2017.
A successor who could pool the interests of the family in the future was not in sight.
The Hueck family receives 3.4 billion euros in cash
Hella only confirmed the sales plans on Thursday after the binding bids had been received. In an agreement with Faurecia, the company has given itself extensive, long-term assurances. According to Hella, this includes "the concerns of the employees and the continued existence of the Lippstadt site as an essential center with operational management, certain central functions and research and development units".
The family receives 3.4 billion euros in cash and a further 600 million euros in the form of Faurecia shares, which are valued at the three-month average price of 42.06 euros.
On Friday, the papers in Paris closed at 38.43 euros.
The financing of the takeover was secured, it said in the message.
The Hella offer is 33 percent above the price at the end of April, when manager magazin first reported on the sales plans.
On Friday, however, Hella shares in the MDax small-cap index were € 63.18, well above the takeover offer.
Investors had expected higher supply
The Bloomberg news agency recently reported that the headlight specialist from Lippstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia could be valued at up to eight billion euros.
As a result, the share rose to a record high of EUR 68.72.
However, since the actual purchase price offered by Faurecia is significantly lower at EUR 60 per share, the Hella share is likely to come under pressure initially.
Hella employs around 39,000 people.
In the past fiscal year 2020/21 (as of the end of May), the company increased sales by 13 percent to 6.5 billion euros, making it one of the ten largest German auto suppliers.
The operating result (EBIT) adjusted for special effects recovered to 510 (2019/20: 227) million euros.
mg / dpa-afx, Reuters