Greiner does not get the foam division that it would have liked. The majority of Belgian shareholders voted to sell this division to a US company. Greiner is now considering taking over another insulation division – or selling its block of shares.
“Of course we would have liked to buy,” said Greiner CEO Axel Kühner about the failed attempt with the foam division on Monday in an interview with the APA. “To say that it leaves us cold would be presumptuous. We worked on it for a long time.” Now the decision of the Recticel shareholders is to be respected. “We still have good ideas on how we can develop our foam business further. It does not change the goal of becoming a global player.” As is customary in family businesses, the goal will be “approached with serenity” and “will not be disturbed”, says Kühner.
Decision to buy the insulation division in the coming weeks
In the coming weeks, Greiner will now decide whether to push ahead with the purchase of the insulation division from the Belgians. This concerns a foam area in which Greiner has not yet been active. This is about hard foams, for example for house insulation, which play a key role in the EU Commission’s Green Deal. “We have always said that the insulation business is also interesting for us,” said Kühner.
If the sale of the foam division to the American Carpenter Co goes through, the previously quite large competition law concerns of the EU Commission about the planned purchase by the Upper Austrians should also disappear. “Then there is no longer this competitive situation,” said Kühner. “The question is: Would Greiner want to become a player in the insulation business and take up a related business, yes or no?”
When asked, Kühner also said that Greiner could have rebutted the reservations of the EU Commission – for example through corresponding regulations with customers to ensure competition. In the foam division, Recticel and Greiner do practically the same thing. From the point of view of the majority of shareholders, the sale to the Americans should now have been the “faster and safer way”, according to the manager.
What if Greiner decides not to pursue the purchase of the insulation business either? “Then it also makes sense to get out of our 27 percent high proportion of Recticel,” says Kühner. So: Either you take over the majority of the 27 percent or you get out.
According to the CEO, there is also a new possible consideration. Greiner bought the 27 percent package for EUR 13.50 per share. On Friday the price was 16.20 euros. “In addition to an exit, there is an option to think about selling the shares at a premium,” said Kühner.
The management of Recticel had conjured up after the public takeover bid from Greiner Carpenter as the new partial buyer of the company. Greiner then rejected a split, arguing that his own offer was better. Such a deviate significantly from the previously communicated strategy of the management of Recticel, it said. But they stayed with the takeover offer. This would have expired on December 17th. This date no longer plays a role in the new considerations.
Source: Nachrichten
