CVC and GBL raise Recordati bid to €53 a share, call it 'best and final'

CVC Capital Partners and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert have raised their takeover bid for Italian drugmaker Recordati to €53 a share and extended the offer period, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The offer, launched through vehicle Respighi BidCo, was increased from an original price of €51.29 a share, Respighi BidCo said. Including the €0.71 of Recordati’s 2025 dividend already distributed, the revised consideration stands at €53.71 a share.

Respighi BidCo declared the new price its “best and final” offer, saying it will not be increased further. The revised bid represents a 16.6 per cent premium to Recordati’s closing price on 25 March, the last trading day before the non-binding offer was announced.

The sweetened bid comes three weeks after activist investor Palliser Capital argued that the original offer undervalued the drugmaker and that the consortium should raise it to at least €60 a share, according to Reuters. Palliser had also urged Recordati’s board to withdraw support for the €51.29 bid, a position opposed by the consortium, ad-hoc-news reported.

CVC and GBL launched the all-cash offer with the aim of delisting the company from the Milan stock exchange. The acceptance period, which began on 31 August and was due to end on 15 October, has been extended until 23 October, with payment scheduled for 2 November.

As of 5 October, shareholders representing 49.79 per cent of Recordati’s share capital had tendered their shares. CVC already owns a 46.8 per cent stake in the pharma group, Reuters reported.