Old Mutual wins investor approval for Skandia bid |
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Published
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Tue, 15 Nov 2005 07:05
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LONDON - South African insurance firm Old Mutual has extended the deadline for shareholders in Swedish rival Skandia Insurance Co to accept its bid for the take over of the firm. Earlier the company had given 21 November as the deadline, but this has now been extended to 16 December.
Old Mutual had initially offered £3.3 billion to Skandia, an offer that was rejected at the end of September. Old Mutual finance director Julian Roberts was confident that Skandia's investors would eventually give their nod for the deal, "We believe that the price that we have offered is fair... we do not intend to increase the price of the bid," he said.
Mr. Roberts' comments were made before an extraordinary general meeting in which investors were asked to give the green signal for the Skandia bid. It is reported that the proposal was voted in favor of the bid and that investors are keen to see Skandia on board.
Commenting on the vote, Old Mutual chief executive Jim Sutcliffe said in a statement, "As the weeks have gone by, we have increasingly received the message that our shareholders are keen to get the deal completed because they know it is the right thing for us and offers the best growth potential for the future. This is clearly shown in the voting patterns today and I am delighted with the result."
Skandia had said that Old Mutual was not confident about securing the votes and hence had postponed the deadline. But Roberts said that there was no truth in these allegations, "We hope that the Skandia shareholders will become more comfortable with Old Mutual when they see our business is trading particularly well," he said after the company released a trading update saying that its life policy sales had jumped 18 percent to $874 million.
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Old Mutual is bidding for Skandia 