Knorr-Bremse Withdraws Offer For Haldex, Terminates Merger

The back and forth and often contentious merger discussions between Germany’s Knorr-Bremse AG and Sweden’s Haldex AB has apparently ended with Knorr-Bremse saying it has withdrawn its offer to all shareholders of Haldex AB and thus has abandoned the proposed business combination. Knorr-Bremse said it will also not continue the merger clearance process. 

 “Knorr-Bremse has made this decision based on a careful assessment of all options and under consideration of the interests of all stakeholders following the resolution of the Swedish Securities Council (SSC). On 7 September 2017, the SSC had announced not to permit an extension of the current acceptance period whereby the offer would lapse on 26 September 2017. Knorr-Bremse also carefully evaluated the SSC’s indication to permit Knorr-Bremse to revert with a new offer within three weeks of merger clearance,” Knorr-Bremse’s announcement said.

 “We made an attractive offer, had convincing arguments and strong support by shareholders. We are convinced that the proposed combination would have been in the best interest of both companies as well as the shareholders of Haldex. Our approach was always, for sure, a friendly takeover. All our attempts to reach out to Haldex have, however, been rejected and the Board blocks to jointly continue and create a new driving force in the commercial vehicle sector.” said Klaus Deller, chairman of the executive board of Knorr-Bremse AG. “It is thus a consequent step to withdraw the offer and move on.”