Germany’s Aton keeps hopes of acquiring Murray & Roberts alive
German investment group Aton kept its hopes of acquiring Murray & Roberts alive on Friday, when it announced that it had secured shares from shareholder Allan Gray, which is backing its bid. Aton is vying for the iconic South African construction and engineering group, in a R15-a-share deal that the latter has rejected out of hand. Acting on the advice of the independent board, Murray & Roberts said last week that the fair value of for its shares stood at between R20 and R22 a share, which valued the deal at up to R9.8bn. Independent expert BDO Corporate Finance deemed R20-R22 a share be fair and reasonable, instead of the R15 proposed by Aton, which valued the buyout at R6.7bn. On Friday, Aton said it bought 29,005,926 Allan Gray shares in a R15 a share deal, taking Aton’s total interest in Murray & Roberts to 39.6%. Murray and Roberts shares ended flat to R15.10 on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of R6.7bn.
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