Ceconomy stake hike: Ceconomy lets shareholders vote once again on full acquisition of Media-Saturn | 11/8/21

Electronics retailer Ceconomy is moving ahead with its plan to fully integrate its subsidiary Media-Saturn.

After the project was recently halted due to shareholder lawsuits, shareholders are set to vote again at an extraordinary general meeting next year, the company announced Friday in Düsseldorf. In fact, stock in Convergenta Holdings, the family holding company of Media Markt co-founder late Erich Kellerhals, should move to Ceconomy by the end of the summer.

This plan was originally approved by the annual general meeting in mid-February – but the plan was subsequently discontinued due to shareholder lawsuits. Against the background of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court’s preliminary legal opinion regarding shareholder actions since the beginning of July, Ceconomy now wants another vote.

The transaction was to be financed through a combination of common stock, newly issued convertible bonds, and a limited amount of cash. The sticking points in the shareholder lawsuits are the capital’s planned actions to fund the purchase of the 21.62 percent owned by the Kellerhals family through Convergenta. In return, Convergenta will acquire a stake of up to 29.99 percent in the electronics retailer.

The planned vote at the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of the General Meeting on February 9, 2022 is subject to the approval of a dividend of approximately €63 million. With the distribution, the right to dividend to preferred stock holders for the 2020/21 financial year and in respect of all claims of preferred dividend to be paid later will be fulfilled. In addition, a dividend of 17 cents per common share must be paid, Ceconomy says.

In addition, Ceconomy is considering converting today’s preferred stock into common stock. If applicable, the transaction must be completed in the current fiscal year 2021/22 (September 30).

Ceconomy had announced the agreement with the Kellerhals family last December after years of feuding and had already wanted to seal it in the fiscal year that ended at the end of September. With the acquisition and the resulting reorganization of the shareholder structure, the Düsseldorf-based company wants to simplify the complex network of the group.

Media Markt-Saturn is set to become a 100% subsidiary of Ceconomy. Economics hopes this will reduce complexity and improve operations. Electronics chains Media Markt and Saturn are Ceconomy’s main stores.

Ceconomy stock recently traded 0.71% more strongly in XETRA trading at €4.26.

DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX)