Utility E.On AG said Friday it raised its offer for Spain's Endesa SA to $53.4 billion as it delivered its final bid in a more than year-long takeover saga.
Duesseldorf-based E.On had previously offered 36.5 billion euros ($47.5 billion). It was left alone in the race for Endesa, Spain's biggest electricity company, after Spanish rival Gas Natural SA withdrew its bid on Thursday.
E.On said the new offer was for 38.75 euros ($50.48) per share, or 41 billion euros, compared with the previous 34.50 euros ($44.92).
A successful takeover would create a global energy titan with more than 100,000 workers and more than 50 million customers in Europe and Latin America.
Analysts had forecast that E.On might sweeten its bid in order to stave off any other suitors and to mollify Endesa's biggest shareholder, Acciona SA. The Madrid-based construction and energy conglomerate has opposed E.On's bid.
Earlier Friday, Endesa Chairman Manuel Pizarro told reporters in Madrid that his company's board planned to meet Tuesday to discuss the E.On bid.
E.On said before it delivered its offer to Spanish market regulators that, once it filed the document, there would be no further opportunities to change the price. It also said that Gas Natural and its affiliates would not be permitted to buy any Endesa shares.
The German company said its offer remains conditional on its acquiring at least 50.01 percent and on a change in Endesa bylaws that currently cap voting rights at 10 percent.
E.On shares closed up 3.6 percent at 109.43 euros ($142.53) in Frankfurt before the value of its final bid was announced Friday evening. In Madrid, shares in Endesa rose 1.6 percent to 39.04 euros ($50.58).
The Germany company said its new offer includes a premium that is slightly more than double Endesa's closing share price on Sept. 2, 2005, the last trading day before Barcelona-based Gas Natural started the bidding battle with a cash and stock offer that valued the company, at current market prices, at around 24 billion euros ($31.25 billion).
E.On later launched a "white knight" bid for Endesa after being approached by management.
The takeover battle for Endesa turned into a hot political issue in Spain, as the country's left-of-center government -- which relies on the parliamentary support of parties from the Catalonia region -- backed Gas Natural's bid and approved its plans to create a Barcelona-based national energy champion.
That caused friction between Madrid and Brussels. The European Commission eventually forced Spain's government to remove most of the conditions it attached to the proposed E.On-Endesa tie-up.
In a filing Thursday with the Spanish stock market regulator, Gas Natural said it decided to pull out of the race because it believed its chances of gaining control of Endesa were hurt by the company's opposition to its bid.
Endesa's Pizarro dismissed claims by Gas Natural that E.On was given information by Endesa to help prepare its offer.
"Gas Natural is making the excuses of a cheap bidder," he said, adding that the information given to E.On was available to any who sought it.
Duesseldorf-based E.On had previously offered 36.5 billion euros ($47.5 billion). It was left alone in the race for Endesa, Spain's biggest electricity company, after Spanish rival Gas Natural SA withdrew its bid on Thursday.
E.On said the new offer was for 38.75 euros ($50.48) per share, or 41 billion euros, compared with the previous 34.50 euros ($44.92).
A successful takeover would create a global energy titan with more than 100,000 workers and more than 50 million customers in Europe and Latin America.
Analysts had forecast that E.On might sweeten its bid in order to stave off any other suitors and to mollify Endesa's biggest shareholder, Acciona SA. The Madrid-based construction and energy conglomerate has opposed E.On's bid.
Earlier Friday, Endesa Chairman Manuel Pizarro told reporters in Madrid that his company's board planned to meet Tuesday to discuss the E.On bid.
E.On said before it delivered its offer to Spanish market regulators that, once it filed the document, there would be no further opportunities to change the price. It also said that Gas Natural and its affiliates would not be permitted to buy any Endesa shares.
The German company said its offer remains conditional on its acquiring at least 50.01 percent and on a change in Endesa bylaws that currently cap voting rights at 10 percent.
E.On shares closed up 3.6 percent at 109.43 euros ($142.53) in Frankfurt before the value of its final bid was announced Friday evening. In Madrid, shares in Endesa rose 1.6 percent to 39.04 euros ($50.58).
The Germany company said its new offer includes a premium that is slightly more than double Endesa's closing share price on Sept. 2, 2005, the last trading day before Barcelona-based Gas Natural started the bidding battle with a cash and stock offer that valued the company, at current market prices, at around 24 billion euros ($31.25 billion).
E.On later launched a "white knight" bid for Endesa after being approached by management.
The takeover battle for Endesa turned into a hot political issue in Spain, as the country's left-of-center government -- which relies on the parliamentary support of parties from the Catalonia region -- backed Gas Natural's bid and approved its plans to create a Barcelona-based national energy champion.
That caused friction between Madrid and Brussels. The European Commission eventually forced Spain's government to remove most of the conditions it attached to the proposed E.On-Endesa tie-up.
In a filing Thursday with the Spanish stock market regulator, Gas Natural said it decided to pull out of the race because it believed its chances of gaining control of Endesa were hurt by the company's opposition to its bid.
Endesa's Pizarro dismissed claims by Gas Natural that E.On was given information by Endesa to help prepare its offer.
"Gas Natural is making the excuses of a cheap bidder," he said, adding that the information given to E.On was available to any who sought it.
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