Inaccuracies in the tender offer of the Austrian Welde GmbH found the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). It is for the purchase of 20,442 shares representing 5.05% of the capital of Woodworking Company Welde Bulgaria. FSC imposed a temporary ban on publication of the offer and required the majority shareholder, who currently controls 76.669% of shares with voting rights in the general meeting of shareholders, to make some adjustments.
Offered tender price was 23.97 levs per share. If Welde GmbH bought 95% of the capital of Welde Bulgaria, it would also get the right to write off the company from the public register and stop trading its shares on the stock exchange.
Welde Bulgaria AD quoted as fair value per share the sum of 23.97 levs, but according to the analysis of the FSC the correct methods of valuation of assets have not been used. This discrepancy should be corrected, the commission recommended. In addition, it expects to be presented with information about the tender offer issuer, as well as specific information about the different phases of the business strategy of Bulgaria Welde at least for 2014.
Welde Bulgaria is the new name of Lessoplast PLC whose registered office is in Troyan, central Bulgaria. The change was registered in the Commercial Register after a decision of the General Assembly from July last year. The core activity of the enterprise is production of plywood and fiber boards. Managers agree that this change will only bring benefits to their company. Austrian group Welde is among the leaders in the industry. Currently it is in a process of consolidating all its plants, and the new name is expected to make Lessoplast and its products more recognizable and open new niches in the market.
The registered capital of the company from Trojan is 404,634 levs. According to the latest data by the end of September, the other big shareholder is Deltwood of Cyprus, holding 18.279% of the shares. Other companies hold 1.03% of the firm and in the hands of small investors are still another 4.05%.
The deadline for acceptance of the offer of Welde GmbH is 28 days from the date of publication of the tender offer in two national newspapers.
Austrian Welde was established in 1989, and its activities include the supply of raw materials, production of materials from wood, distribution and marketing. The Group has several companies in the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. Welde Bulgaria works mainly for foreign markets – over 80% of its sales are carried out abroad. The output of the plant is sold in over 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, and today, as it was mentioned, the company is the largest manufacturer of plywood in Bulgaria.
Some problems with raw materials are the cause of the deterioration of its financial results in 2013. Its primary production – of boards and plywood – decreased because of a lack of demand, but also because of the large stocks of finished and unfinished products. Welde Bulgaria is the owner of 70% of Eco Furnir Ltd. in the city of Kovin (Serbia) and 50 % of Lessoplast Ltd. of Cernavoda (Romania ), which are engaged in production and sale of veneer for plywood production as well as the wholesale and retail of these and other goods and are suppliers of the factory in Troyan.
The BANKER
