Chinese takeover bid18 May 2018 10:30
The executive president of Llyods Bank says that the approval of the takeover bid for EDP will have a "political component" of investment reciprocity. Llyods Bank's chief executive said today that approval of China Three Gorges' takeover bid for EDP by US and European regulators will have a "political component" related to investment reciprocity. Being a Chinese investment with an impact in Europe and the United States, "obviously, this approval will have a political component, the issue of reciprocal investments also from the European Union, or from the US in China. I think obviously that regulatory and European entities will take this into account, "said António Horta Osório. The chairman of the Board of Directors of Lloyds Bank spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the conference "Economic Perspectives for Portugal and the Eurozone - Challenges of Brexit" held in Lisbon, but closed to the press, postponing comments on banking and economy. For Horta Osório, "it will be interesting to see how the different jurisdictions where EDP is present - in the US and in the European Commission - will react to approve this potential investment of the Chinese in EDP." Still, the banker was not surprised by the announcement of the takeover bid by China Three Gorges, which was already the largest shareholder of Portuguese electricity company, with 23.27% of the capital. "The majority shareholder of the company intends to have effective control of the company and minority shareholders have responded through the market share price, saying they want to receive a premium for passing this control into the hands of that majority shareholder," he said. For Lloyds Bank CEO, "the market in this aspect should work," noting that the Portuguese government has already spoken about the deal, not opposing it. Horta Osorio also recalled that "when the Portuguese State accepted that China Three Gorges became the main shareholder of EDP it was obvious what would be the path that, in a longer or shorter period, would happen." CTG announced last Friday its intention to launch a voluntary takeover bid for EDP, offering a counterpart of 3.26 euros per share, valuing the company at around 11.9 billion euros. CTG, which already owns 23.27% of EDP's share capital, intends to keep the company based in Portugal and listed on the Lisbon stock exchange. If the takeover bid for EDP is successful, CTG will move forward with a mandatory tender offer for 100% of the share capital of EDP Renováveis ​​(EDPR) at EUR 7.33 per share. EDP ​​controls 82.6% of the share capital of EDPR which is based in Madrid. The Chinese group says in its preliminary announcement that it will only launch the takeover bid for EDP if the Portuguese government does not oppose the transaction. The prime minister, António Costa, has already said that he has "no reserve
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