William Demant Invest A/S (WDI), Smoerum, Denmark, announced that it will make a voluntary public offer to increase its shareholding in Össur, Reykjavik, Iceland, from its current stake of 39.58 percent of Össur’s shares to an average of 40-50 percent.
WDI said it has made the offer because it seeks to have flexibility as a controlling shareholder in Össur. WDI said it has no intention of taking over Össur; Össur’s shareholders will not be encouraged or forced to sell their shares; the offer will not have any impact on Össur’s strategies, operations, and activities, including employment and working conditions of Össur’s management and employees; and WDI has no intention of delisting Össur. WDI also said Össur’s financial assets will continue to be used in the same way as before, and it has no intention of making any amendments to Össur’s articles of association in connection with this offer.
Össur’s shares are currently admitted to trading on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen and also have an unsponsored listing on NASDAQ OMX Iceland. Due to the unsponsored listing and because Össur is headquartered in Iceland, the Icelandic takeover rules apply.
The offer price is ISK 202 (Iceland Krona), or US $1.5764, for each share traded on NASDAQ OMX Iceland and DKK 8.20 (Danish Krone), or US $1.39, for each share traded on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen. Payments will be made in cash. The offer price was been determined in accordance with the criteria for mandatory offers, which in this case is the closing price on NASDAQ OMX Iceland and NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen, respectively, on the day before publication of this offer announcement.
WDI said it has made the offer to eliminate the uncertainty regarding potential mandatory takeover obligations in case WDI increases its current shareholdings. WDI also said it is not required to purchase any minimum amount of shares under the offer to be exempt in the future from making a mandatory offer under the rules.
The offer period will be four weeks and will start four days after the offer document was made public-which was May 22.
