Alteo Board Advises Against Accepting Buyout Offer

The board said the offer price, of HUF 3,040 per share, is over the statutory minimum but is lower than the estimated HUF 3,920-per-share price in an assessment by independent experts. The board added that shareholders could miss out on a potentially higher share price in the future as well as possible dividends.

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL announced late in December that it is partnering with Diófa Asset Management and Indotek-Investments to acquire a majority stake and joint control in listed Alteo. The parties agreed with Alteo majority owner Wallis Asset management to acquire a 61.557% stake in Alteo, in two steps, at a price of HUF 2,872 per share, after which MOL RES announced a mandatory public purchase offer for all outstanding Alteo shares at the HUF 3,040-per-share price. All three of the parties are to acquire equal stakes in Alteo.

The buyout offer, recently cleared by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), runs from February 10 until March 13.

Alteo has a renewable energy capacity of 69 MW as well as conventional electricity and heat production. It operates and services industrial power plants and is active in energy trading, waste management, and e-mobility.

With the planned acquisition, MOL aims to increase its footprint in green power generation and trading, in line with its 2030 strategy to invest in new, low-carbon, circular economy businesses.