Metair Investments: Mutlu Aku ‘squeeze out’ under way

Car parts maker Metair Investments has commenced with a “squeeze out” transaction to buy the 3.57 percent stake in Turkey-based lead acid battery maker Mutlu Akü it does not already own. This emerged yesterday. The deal will result in Mutlu Akü becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metair. This follows Metair’s purchase of 100 percent of the issued share capital of Mutlu Holding in October, giving it a 75 percent interest in Mutlu Akü in a transaction valued at R2.17 billion and closure in March of a mandatory tender offer to the minority Mutlu Akü shareholders for the remaining 25 percent of issued shares not held by Mutlu Holding that Turkish law required it to make. The tender offer resulted in acceptances received from shareholders of Mutlu Akü holding 21.43 percent of the total outstanding share capital in the firm and Metair’s equity interest in Mutlu Akü rising to 96.43 percent. Metair said this week that the squeeze out, in terms of Turkish regulations, remained subject to the approval of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey. The acquisition of Mutlu Akü increased Metair’s exposure to high-growth markets and was expected to help it capture a growing share of the start-stop battery market. Metair rose 1.71 percent to close at R38.65 on the JSE yesterday. – Roy Cokayne