Switzerland-based investment management firm JBF Finance has launched a public tender offer for all the shares of packaging industry machinery and services supplier Bobst Group.
JBF offered to buy the shares for Sfr78 ($80.91) for each of Bobst’s shares in cash, already owning approximately 53% of the company’s shares and voting rights
The offer is not subject to substantial conditions.
Following the offer, JBF plans to take Bobst private by delisting its shares from SIX Swiss Exchange to support the company’s long-term and sustainable growth.
In a statement, Bobst said: “The board of directors of Bobst Group, represented by the Committee of Independent Directors, has reviewed the offer, is convinced of the business rationale of the transaction and welcomes the possibility for shareholders to tender their shares at a premium in these uncertain times.
“This offer will give the company the appropriate conditions to deploy a long-term strategy, to execute its digital transformation, and to maintain its strong Swiss industrial activities.”
Bobst supplies substrate processing, printing and converting equipment and services for the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated industries.
The company operates in more than 50 countries and has production facilities in 11 of them.
Last year, it recorded a consolidated turnover of Sfr1.563bn.
Following the deal, Bobst will continue to be managed by independent board members and family board members.
Last month, Bobst announced a strategic partnership with Evertis and BASF to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) based multilayer laminates.
The companies will work to support the closed-loop recycling of the laminates, which are used for thermoformed food trays, for recycling company Sulayr.
They aim to help Sulayr comply with the European Green Deal, under which all packaging produced in the European Union will need to be reusable or recyclable by 2030.
