- Title: UK: MANNESMANN EMPLOYEES DEMONSTRATE AGAINST POSSIBLE TAKEOVER BY VODAPHONE.
- Date: 19th November 1999
- Summary: RATINGEN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 19, 1999) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: MANNESMANN EMPLOYEES DEMONSTRATING AGAINST VODAFONE'S HOSTILE TAKEOVER BID OUTSIDE COMPANY'S MOBILE PHONE UNIT, BANNER READING "WE ARE NOT FOR SALE" 0.05 2. CU: VARIOUS OF MANNESMANN EMPLOYEES WHISTLING 0.12 3. CU/ZOOM OUT: EMPLOYEES WITH RED CARDS READING "I VOTE AGAINST A HOSTILE TAKEOVER" 0.36 4. SV: "D2" (MANNESMANN'S MOBILE PHONE NETWORK) FLAG 0.44 5. CU/PAN/SV: VARIOUS OF UNION REPRESENTATIVES ADDRESSING EMPLOYEES/ EMPLOYEES CHANTING "MANNESMANN, MANNESMANN" (2 SHOTS) 1.02 6. MV: VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATING EMPLOYEES 1.08 7. CU: SOUNDBITE (German) UNIDENTIFIED MANNESMANN EMPLOYEE: (We are here)".... to secure our jobs and so that a law is introduced in Europe making hostile takeover bids illegal." 1.18 8. CU: SOUNDBITE (German) UNIDENTIFIED MANNESMANN EMPLOYEE:" We should not be taken over. We want to keep our jobs." 1.26 9. TV: DEMONSTRATORS 1.32 BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 19, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. MV/CU: VARIOUS OF BRITISH AND GERMAN NEWSPAPERS COMMENTING ON DEAL (3 SHOTS) 1.49 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 19, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. SV/CU: VARIOUS OF PRESS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) 2.01 12. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) VODAFONE AIRTOUCH CHIEF EXECUTIVE CHRIS GENT SAYING: "We were very disappointed to receive yesterday's letter which clearly indicated that Mannesmann is not prepared to negotiate constructively in the interests of its shareholders. Vodaphone AirTouch board therefore decided that it should make an offer directly to Mannesmann shareholders. This offer's not meant to be hostile to the shareholders, employees or management of Mannesmann, but it is the only way we can present Mannesmann shareholders with the option of investing in Europe's leading global mobile telecommunications company. I am convinced that the combination of of Vodaphone AirTouch and Mannesmann will produce enhanced growth prospects and superior value to the shareholders of both companies. I am confident that the shareholders of Mannesmann will accept our offer and join together with Vodaphone AirTouch shareholders to invest in the premier global mobile company. Our intended offer to Mannesmann shareholders will comprise 53. 7 Vodaphone AirTouch shares for each one of Mannesmanns ordinary share. This offer is final. Our offer values each Mannesmann share at 240 Euros, based upon Vodaphone AirTouch's share-price of £2. 85 (Sterling) at the close of business yesterday. 3.28 DUESSELDORF, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 19, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. LAS: EXTERIOR MANNESMANN HEADQUARTERS 3.34 14. MCU: SOUNDBITE (German) UNIDENTIFIED BOARD MEMBER SAYING: "We first have to examine everything." 3.56 15. SV: MEMBERS OF MANNESMANN SUPERVISORY BOARD ARRIVING FOR MEETING 4.01 16. CU: SOUNDBITE (German) MANFRED SOEHNLEIN, MANNESMANN SPOKESMAN, SAYING "I can't say anything" 4.06 FRANKFURT, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 19, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. MV: EXTERIOR OF GERMAN BORSE (GERMAN STOCK EXCHANGE) 4.12 18. CU/GV: VARIOUS INTERIOR OF GERMAN BORSE (2 SHOTS) 4.24 19. MV/PAN: BOARD IN BORSE SHOWING MANNESMANN SHARE PRICE 4.35 20. GV: BOARD SHOWING BORSE INDEX/ INTERIOR OF BORSE (2 SHOTS) 4.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th December 1999 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RATINGEN, DUESSELDORF AND FRANKFURT, GERMANY; LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA4H0Z0SKRNIO7M0HT7UH273VJ
- Story Text: German workers have demonstrated as the supervisory
board of German telecommunications and engineering group
Mannesmann AG examined a new takeover bid by Britain's
Vodafone AirTouch.
The British-based cellphone giant Vodafone made a
fresh 124 billion euro bid for the German telecommunications
and engineering group on Friday (19 November 1999), which
analysts said had every chance of success.The bid is the
first hostile takeover bid for a major German firm by a
foreign company.
Some 500 Mannesmann employees demonstrated against a
takeover outside their company's mobile phone branch in
Ratingen, near Duesseldorf, demanding there be no job cuts.
Vodafone's Chief Executive, Chris Gent, has repeatedly claimed
there would be no job cuts resulting from a possible takeover
of Mannesmann.
The fresh offer will be 53.7 Vodafone AirTouch shares for
each Mannesmann share.Under the terms of the deal, Mannesmann
shareholders would own approximately 47.2 percent of the
combined group.The world's biggest cellphone group said it
was offering 240 euros per Mannesmann share in an all stock
bid, raising an initial 203 euro per share offer which the
German telecoms and engineering group had curtly rejected on
Sunday.
But Mannesmann shares slipped to below 200 euros on
disappointment that the bid, at a premium of around 18 percent
to the stock price on Friday, did not include any cash.
The headline price does not include Mannesmann's debt of
around 23 billion euros, and banking sources said Vodafone was
seeking to raise a record 23 billion pound ($37.2 billion)
syndicated loan to help refinance its debt obligations.
Meanwhile, Vodafone AirTouch Plc's hostile bid for
Mannesmann AG was a British attack on German industrial
tradition that could threaten thousands of jobs, Germany's
most popular daily, Bild, said."The Englanders are coming,
with a knockout offer...will greed triumph today?" the paper
splashed across its front page, atop a picture of a boxing
glove throwing a punch.
The Mannesmann AG supervisory board, which includes
industry heavyweights such as Henning Schulte-Noelle, the
chairman of insurer Allianz AG, and Deutsche Bank's managing
board member Josef Ackermann, started a key meeting on Friday
under a blanket of silence to discuss the new bid.
Founded in 1885 by brothers Reinhard and Max Mannesmann,
the Mannesman group has been a shining star in the German
industrial firmament for more than a century and has a strong
history of innovation.
German firms have been involved in several high-profile
corporate takeovers abroad in recent years, including Deutsche
Bank's swoop for Bankers Trust of the United States last year
and BMW's purchase of Britain's Rover car company in 1994.
Winning Mannesmann will confirm Vodafone's leadership of a
fast deregulating and booming European mobile phone market --
one of the world's biggest growth industries.
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