Hedge fund TCI urges Safran to walk away from Zodiac after new warning
PARIS, April 28 UK hedge fund TCI Fund Management renewed pressure on France's Safran to drop plans to buy Zodiac Aerospace after the aircraft seats maker issued the second profit warning in as many months and posted a first-half operating loss.
"These are disastrous results from Zodiac yet again... Zodiac’s business continues to implode with no sign of recovery," TCI founder Christopher Hohn said.
"Zodiac is in serious financial difficulty and we think it needs an emergency rights issue, which would cause the Zodiac share price to fall substantially," he said in an emailed statement, adding that the appointment of a new special board adviser was a distraction from the company's problems.
TCI has waged a public campaign to persuade Safran to cancel its proposed $9 billion offer for Zodiac, which it says would significantly overpay for the company. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Andrew Callus)