The board of directors of the Argos Group held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday morning. During the meeting, businessman Jaime Gilinski asked shareholders to consider the possibility of selling their stake in the Nutresa Group, which corresponds to 9.83%. For the renowned banker, the company would obtain revenues of 2.13 billion pesos that would be beneficial to both the bank and its members.
“With these resources the Argos Group would strengthen and give a clear signal to the market, that its strategy is to strengthen its main businesses and increase the value of shares and dividends for all shareholders,” Gilinski said at the meeting, in which he participated for the first time.
During the meeting, the Shareholders' Meeting authorized Ana Cristina Arango and Claudia Betancourt to participate in decisions on public takeover bids (OPA) for ordinary shares of Grupo Sura and Grupo Nutresa. While it was determined that Gonzalo Alberto Pérez, president of Grupo Sura and Carlos Ignacio Gallego, president of Grupo Nutresa, will not be able to perform the same task despite being members of the Argos Group's board of directors.
With regard to the third takeover bid currently being faced by the Antioquia Business Group (GEA), the meeting determined that the Argos board of directors will carry out a comprehensive analysis of the offers with the support of national and international advisers.
Gilinski extended the deadline for the purchase of shares in Nutresa
The Gilinski group, through the firm Nugil, launched at the end of February the third takeover bid for Nutresa, in which conglomerates seek to acquire between 9.6% and 12% of the shares. This Tuesday he announced the extension of the deadline for the takeover bid by the company, being this the only opportunity to modify the current process.
According to the Colombian Stock Exchange, quoted by the newspaper El Colombiano, there have been 122 acceptances so far, representing 311,105 shares corresponding to 0.07% of the food company's outstanding securities.
It should be recalled that the Gilinskis and Nugil own 30.8% of the shares of Nutresa, but they aspire to be around 40% of the food conglomerate, so they will have to purchase in their new offering a total of between 43.9 million and 54.9 million shares.
For that purpose and in view of the advance of acceptances, it decided to extend the deadline for the takeover bid. Initially, it had been raised from 6 to 25 April, but using the only possible modification, it extended the purchase period until May 16.
Gilinski also made a wake-up call at the meeting held this morning. “I remind you that you cannot act as a group and this offer must be looked at only, and I repeat only, for the benefit of the shareholders of the Argos Group, including all the minorities, everyone who is present here and the pension funds,” commented the businessman.
It is important to remember that in this third takeover bid the value paid for each share is US$12.58 equivalent to 47,015 Colombian pesos, depending on the decision of the shareholder who decides to sell. The newspaper La República reported that this value represents 20% more than that offered in the second takeover bid and 63.1% compared to the first one.
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