Stada CEO holds out on offering timeline for takeover talks

Bloomberg

Stada Arzneimittel AG Chief Executive Officer Matthias Wiedenfels played for time to complete negotiations with private equity firms on a proposed $3.9 billion takeover, offering little reprieve to investors seeking an end to weeks of jostling among the suitors and the drugmaker’s management.
“This is about getting the best result for the company and its stakeholders” including employees and shareholders, Wiedenfels said in response to questions from reporters gathered in Bad Vilbel, outside Frankfurt, on Wednesday on a deadline for the talks. “It’s not about the fastest result.”
His comments suggest the company will continue to hold out for higher bids from suitors who have so far offered 58 euros a share, valuing Stada at 3.61 billion euros ($3.9 billion). The drugmaker this month raised its growth targets and said it was accelerating plans to trim costs. Meanwhile Chairman Carl-Ferdinand Oetker temporarily stalled negotiations with the interested buyouts firms — Advent International Corp., Permira, Cinven Ltd. and Bain Capital — saying their offers were insufficient, before pledging to resume talks on March 23.
“Price is certainly not the only determining factor,” Wiedenfels said in an interview. Management wants to protect the interests of workers and those of shareholders who don’t tender their shares, and is also concerned about what Stada’s corporate governance will look like in the future, according to the CEO.