During July, K+S AG asked its private shareholders, who hold about 30% of all outstanding shares, for their opinion on PotashCorp’s unsolicited takeover bid.
“Our private shareholders have made their position clear. They share the assessment of the K+S Board that the current PotashCorp proposal fails to reflect the fundamental value of K+S. At the same time, our private shareholders have given us a clear mandate to keep on realizing what they consider to be attractive future prospects for K+S,” said Norbert Steiner, chairman of the K+S Board of Executive Directors.
A majority (84%) of private investors supported the rejection of the PotashCorp takeover bid by the management of K+S. If PotashCorp were to make an offer of 41 euros per share (and they have), only about 4% of private investors would accept the offer. Less than half (43%) said they would wait to see what the position would be taken by management in the event of an offer.
K+S does not believe the PotashCorp offer provides reliability. The concern remains unchanged that the proposed transaction puts jobs at risk and that sites and raw material production in Germany might not be maintained.
