12.12.2016

TVH gains German acceptance and lowers threshold

TVH has obtained the unconditional approval of Germany’s Bundeskartellamt, competition authority, for the acquisition of Lavendon which owns German rental company Gardemann. If it did succeed, the combination of Gardemann with TVH owned Mateco would provide the company with a market share that could be considered as dominant. Thus this approval is an important aspect of its takeover attempt.

TVH Has also confirmed that it will accept a lower acceptance threshold and is now prepared to go ahead if it obtains 50 percent and one share, rather than the previous threshold of 75 percent. The company always reserved the right to lower the acceptance level, and has now done so, possibly indicating a lower take-up than anticipated or possibly that the number of shares pledged is now close to 50 percent?

Lavendon quickly responded that it is in discussions with Loxam and that shareholders should refrain from making any decision at this point in time.

Vertikal Comment

It is hard to be sure exactly what is going on with this takeover – both TVH and Loxam have been active in their endeavours to acquire the Lavendon business– although Loxam appears a little less committed - or is it just a little less aggressive - than TVH has been so far.

The market clearly believes in some sort of counter bid or counter bidder, given that the share price zoomed way past the TVH 'final offer' level of £2.05 to almost £2.30.

This week could prove to be pivotal in the battle and the outcome might not be a simple choice between the two. What is looking increasingly likely is that the ownership of Lavendon is on the verge of changing.