Talgo asked Skoda for data on the proposal sponsored by Oscar Puente
He administrative silence to which Talgo shareholders have been subjected since April last year, the CNMV has acknowledged that the request for rework by Hungarian company Ganz Mavag remains valid after a new interested party emerged in the takeover of the Spanish train maker. The government’s apparent opposition to the acquisition of the Spanish manufacturer by a business entity it considers linked to the regime of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán explains the silence of the Foreign Investment Board, which is analysing the €620 million offer and, most likely, the alternative offer received yesterday from Talgo.
Yesterday, the manufacturer notified that it had received a proposal for an alternative Hungarian declaration of interest to create a “combination of business and industrial integration.” Talgo informed the CNMV that the sender is Skoda Transporta Czech industrial company unrelated to the car brand, with which the Minister of Transport cooperated, Oscar Puente He gave an interview last June during an official visit.
Nothing came from the management until yesterday, when Talgo reported a proposal to ask Skoda to clarify its interest with relevant information. “We will know whether this proposal is interesting when it materializes,” sources familiar with the process explain, emphasizing that What is being presented now is worthless.
Skoda Transportation is a division of ¦koda, which is 85.7% owned PPF Group (První Privatizacní Fond) and a Czech businessman Michal Koretsky. The PPF Group, in turn, is a business holding operating in the areas of finance, telecommunications, biotechnology, real estate and mechanical engineering. At the moment, if partners have an offer five euros per share and regulatory guarantees from banks and an industrial plan explaining Ganz Mavag’s intentions to develop train production, they know nothing about the Czech bidder.
In fact, to know to what extent this declaration of interest could compete with the Hungarian offer, Talgo asked Skoda for information indicating whether it implies an offer to shareholders of a higher consideration than that offered by the Hungarian group Ganz Mavag Europe (GME) in the takeover offer announced on March 7, provided that it is paid in cash and explaining its current production and financial capabilities.
The chances of Skoda Transportation announcing a takeover on its own are more than limited. The government’s interest in curtailing the offer sponsored by the Hungarian state through its affiliates has led it to conduct a survey of all major manufacturers, such as Alstom, CAF or Stadler. The resulting refusals prompted the creation of a consortium in which it was also tested with industrial groups already involved in similar operations, such as Notary with Indra or large corporations such as Criteriawhich, despite the exclusion of transport from the portfolio of strategic sectors it had in mind when reconfiguring its investments, continues to act as a partner in all possible consortium configurations that are being created with the aim of providing an alternative offer.
Talgo shareholders fear that Skoda’s interest rate proposal will delay a process that should not go beyond August. So far, the Foreign Investment Council has requested information but has given no further indication of its opinion on the proposal other than silence, a promise from Minister Oscar Puente that the government will do everything possible to ensure that the operation does not proceed, and approval in the Council of Ministers for other purchases of Spanish companies such as Ercross by the Portuguese Bondalti last June. The government’s silence is ending, but investors’ patience is not exhausted. For now, the market is waiting, and the five euros offered by Ganz Mavag have not been lost. Yesterday, Talgo’s share price closed at 4.06 euros.