The plan by US financial investor KKR to acquire a strategic investment in German media company Axel Springer has made an important step forward.
At the end of the offer period on August 2, 2019, the voluntary public tender offer by KKR to all Springer shareholders had been accepted by shareholders representing 27.8% of the share capital. The acceptance rate thus clearly exceeded the minimum acceptance threshold of 20%.
Pursuant to section 16 of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act, shareholders who have not yet tendered their shares can accept the offer at an offer price of €63.00 per share during the mandatory additional acceptance period. The additional acceptance period will last for 14 days and end on August 21, 2019 at midnight (local time Frankfurt am Main).
The completion of the offer remains subject to merger control, foreign investment and media concentration clearances.