German retailer Metro Group turned down an offer made by EP Global Commerce controlled by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to buy it in a deal that would value its shares at €5.8bn.
Metro’s management board said it “strongly believes” that offer “substantially undervalues the company and does not reflect its value creation plan”.
Earlier, EP Global Commerce, which already held a stake of nearly 11% in Metro, said that it offers price of 16 euros for each ordinary share and 13.80 euros for each preferred share represented a 34.5% premium to when EP Global Commerce made its initial investment in August.
According to Financial Times, a deal would have marked the latest foray into western Europe by Mr Kretinsky, the chairman of football club AC Sparta Prague, who last year bought a stake in the French daily Le Monde via his Czech Media Invest vehicle. He is best known in European dealmaking circles for his purchases of energy assets in Germany, Italy and the UK via EPH, a group he founded in 2009.
Statistics showed that Metro generated €36.5bn in global revenue last fiscal year, a 1.6% drop compared with the previous year.
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