Lack of bank funding leads to withdrawal of Grifols takeover bid

The real reason for the withdrawal of the takeover bid Brookfield O Grifolsknown yesterday is not a discrepancy in price the same with shareholders, but the absence financing from the outside banking. This is stated by sources familiar with the situation, who add that the bank continues to refuse to lend more than 60% of the value of the shares and that with such a percentage the Canadian fund will not be able to launch an offer.

As OKDIARIO exclusively reported, the big obstacle to the operation was funding. So, KaishaBank And Sabadell Bank They refused to participate and Santander Bank He promised to contribute the necessary minimum. Likewise, given the enormous risk of the operation, the banks involved – mostly foreign, apart from Santander – capped the loan percentage. (credit value) to 50% of the share price, a percentage that was later raised slightly to 60%.

To try to save the operation, Brookfield negotiated to join sovereign wealth funds and from pensions reduce your ticket and therefore their funding needs. Some media reported that he convinced the state fund Singapore and to the Government Pension Fund CanadaHowever, sources assure that the banks did not receive any information on this matter: “No one showed them the papers about the participation of these funds.”

For this reason, the bank has maintained its position and is unwilling to finance the rest of the money needed for the takeover bid, even with price declared and recognized by the low council Grifols (10.5 euros for class A shares and 7.62 euros for class B shares, representing a total valuation of $6,450 million). Brookfield therefore chose to withdraw the offer.

However, some sources believe there is still some possibility of the operation reviving if Brookfield finally manages to get a government or pension fund involved and get the money needed to make a takeover bid. In this case, yesterday’s announcement would have been a threat to show shareholders what would happen to them if they did not accept the proposed price, that is, to force them to accept the offer with the announced conditions.

But today there is no other investor firmly committed to participating. It should be remembered that the fund has never made a firm commitment to launch the proposal, but simply to study it, although some sources claim that it will have to pay fine Review is final.

The bank’s position is based on doubts about Grifols’ reporting following successive reports on Gotham City (doubts are aggravated by the extension of the validity period due diligence conducted by Brookfield with constant requests for additional information), to which is added the need refinance debt company -9.208 million net at the end of September, according to official data – and sever opaque relations with the family holding company. Scranton.

That is, it was a very large financing (taking into account shares and debt, it would have been the largest syndicated loan in the history of Spain) and, of course, risk given the uncertainty that affects Grifols’ actual situation.

It should also be remembered that Grifols fell to the 6 euro level after reports Gotham City and that it was below 8 before the takeover bid was announced in July. Therefore, an alternative as possible capital increase to balance the balance, it will be done at a price much lower than the takeover bid price, estimated by experts to be between 7 and 8 euros. Another argument for Brookfield not offering a higher price.