(BFM Bourse) – The group’s majority shareholder will launch a simplified public purchase offer with a view to removing SQLI from the stock market. The price offered to minority shareholders of the digital services specialist is 54 euros per share, a premium of 37% compared to the closing price on Tuesday evening.
On Tuesday evening, SQLI requested the suspension of the listing of its shares on Euronext Paris, “pending the publication of a press release and until further notice”, according to the established formula.
The hypothesis that was then the most credible to justify this suspension was then a capital operation on the part of the British fund DBAY Advisors (via the holding company “Synsion BidCo”), its majority shareholder since 2019.
An offer at 54 euros
The suspense only lasted a few days. Before the Paris Stock Exchange opened on Friday, SQLI confirmed that Synsion BidCo – which holds 83.5% of the capital – would indeed launch a simplified public purchase offer (OPAS) on the shares that remain in circulation.
The simplified public offer led by DBAY Advisors will be priced at 54 euros, which represents a premium of 37% compared to the group’s last listed price of 39.40 euros, at the close of last Tuesday, and 33% compared to the average price of the last 60 sessions. The offer values SQLI at approximately 252 million euros for 100% of the capital.
The initiator has indicated that it intends to delist SQLI if it manages to cross the 90% capital threshold. This should be facilitated by the support of several shareholders who have committed to contributing 5.1% of SQLI’s capital in total.
Too many constraints
If this takeover bid is successful, it would mark the end of the stock market career of the French digital services company founded in 1990 and listed on the stock market in the summer of 2000 on the new market, at the height of the bursting of the internet bubble. The company justifies this operation by the lack of interest in a listing of SQLI.
In its press release, SQLI explains that it has noted that the delisting would simplify its “operational functioning […] in view of the provisions to which companies whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market are subject.”
“Given the current structure of its shareholders and the low volume of trading, the listing is of relatively little use,” justifies SQLI, which points out that the average daily volume of transactions on its shares fell by 39% between September 15, 2023 and September 15, 2024.
The group’s board of directors welcomed the proposed takeover bid, established an ad hoc committee and appointed Cabinet Crowe HA as an independent expert to rule on the fairness of the offer.
According to the planned timetable, the offer could be finalized before the end of 2024. Suspended on Tuesday in view of the announcement of this transaction, the listing of SQLI shares will resume on Monday, September 23, 2024.
Today’s announcement adds to the long list of takeover bids targeting small and mid-caps on the Paris Stock Exchange. This Friday, the specialist in the dematerialization of management documents Esker gave the green light to its acquisition by the British investment fund Bridgepoint, as Bloomberg reported in August. Eekem Group also announced its intention to file a simplified takeover bid for the entire capital of UTI Group, a company specializing in IT services.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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