As of 2:12PM CEST. Market open.
Panalpina, an international freight forwarding and logistics company, reported $0.82 (Swiss Francs, or CHF) per share in earnings for the first quarter of 2019 compared to $0.72 CHF for the same period last year. This is an "in-line report" for the Swiss company according to Seeking Alpha's estimate. This is the first report from the company since the announcement earlier this month that Panalpina would be acquired in a $4.6 billion deal by Danish competitor DSV.
Danish logistics giant DSV has offered to buy Swiss logistics major Panalpina, quoting a price of 195.8 Swiss francs per share in a deal worth around $4.6 billion. The initial bid was a stock-and-cash offer of 170 Swiss francs per share in January, which was increased to an all-cash bid of 180 Swiss francs per share in February. If this newly framed deal goes through, the merged company would be the world's fourth-largest freight forwarder in terms of revenue with an excess of $17 billion per year – behind only DHL, Kuehne & Nagel, and DB Schenker.
The board of directors of Panalpina recommended shareholders accept the mostly stock offer worth 196 Swiss francs a share, the companies said in a statement on Monday, confirming a Bloomberg report. Panalpina shares jumped as much 16 percent to 192.80 francs, while DSV was up 0.1 percent as of 2:41 p.m. in Copenhagen. The agreement has the backing of investors holding 69.9 percent of Panalpina’s registered shares including the Ernst Goehner Foundation, which owns a 46 percent stake and had rebuffed a previous offer.
Take Panalpina Welttransport AG. Having almost 50 percent of its shares owned by a philanthropic foundation hasn’t helped. Rather than cash out, it’s clear the Ernst Goehner Foundation wanted to stay invested after all.
COPENHAGEN/ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss logistics group Panalpina has bowed to an increased 4.6 billion Swiss francs ($4.6 billion) bid from Danish rival DSV, ending a more than two month takeover battle designed to build scale in the consolidating transport sector. DSV, whose Chief Executive Jens Bjorn Andersen has been on the hunt for targets to broaden his company's global reach and help cut costs, said on Monday Panalpina had accepted an all-share offer of 2.375 DSV shares for each Panalpina share. Shares in DSV rose 2.5 percent in early trade while Panalpina shares jumped 15 percent.
DSV’s sweetened bid has won the support of the Ernst Goehner Foundation, which owns 46 percent of Panalpina and rebuffed an earlier offer, said the people. DSV made an initial 17O Swiss franc stock-and-cash offer for Panalpina in January, before sweetening its initial bid to an all-cash 180 Swiss francs per share a month later, valuing the target at about 4.3 billion Swiss francs ($4.3 billion). A representative for Panalpina declined to comment.
A/S raised its offer to take over Panalpina to $4.3 billion on Friday, after the Switzerland-based company disclosed it was in separate talks to merge logistics operations with Kuwait’s Agility Group. DSV sweetened an offer made earlier this month to 180 Swiss francs ($178.6) per Panalpina share, 10 more than the previous bid. The new talks with Agility focus on whether Panalpina can take over Agility’s logistics network in return for Agility becoming a substantial Panalpina shareholder, a person involved in the matter said.
Panalpina is looking to consolidate, and not be consolidated, as it says it wants to combine its logistics business with that of another company. Meanwhile putative suitor DSV continues to woo the Swiss freight forwarder with a revised offer. Agility's logistics revenue primarily comes from inventory management, order fulfilment and transportation services, along with ocean and air freight forwarding.
Danish logistics group DSV A/S sweetened its offer for Panalpina to $4.3 billion (£3.4 billion), with a tug of war escalating on Friday over the Swiss company as it weighs a separate deal with Kuwait's Agility Group. DSV raised its bid for Panalpina to 180 Swiss francs per share in cash last week from the previous cash-and-shares offer worth around 170 francs, the Danish company said. DSV went public with its raised offer after Panalpina and Agility Group announced a possible tie-up.
Danish logistics company DSV's $4 billion-plus bid for Panalpina hit a roadblock on Monday when the Swiss freight forwarder's top shareholder rejected the offer, saying Panalpina should stick to its own "consolidator strategy". Panalpina shares closed down 11.7 percent at 157.3 Swiss francs. The snub by the Ernst Goehner Foundation, which owns nearly 46 percent of Panalpina, marks the second time in the past few months that DSV Chief Executive Jens Bjorn Andersen has encountered resistance in Switzerland.
Danish logistics company DSV's $4-billion-plus bid for Panalpina hit a roadblock on Monday when the Swiss freight forwarder's top shareholder rejected the offer, saying Panalpina should stick to its own "consolidator strategy". Panalpina shares were down 6.1 percent at 167.4 Swiss francs at 1214 GMT. The snub by the Ernst Goehner Foundation, which owns nearly 46 percent of Panalpina, marks the second time in the last few months that DSV Chief Executive Jens Bjorn Andersen has encountered resistance in Switzerland.
Denmark's DSV (DSV.CO), whose tentative $4 billion (£3 billion) bid for Swiss shipper Panalpina (PWTN.S) would be its largest takeover, will seek additional billion-dollar deals regardless of this offer's fate, Chief Executive Jens Bjorn Andersen said. In Zurich for meetings, Andersen said the allure of cost-cutting, including trimming duplicate jobs, as well as broadening global reach with Panalpina's air- and sea-freight operations, are driving his bid to create what would be the world's No. 4 freight-forwarding company. Only DHL Logistics, Kuehne & Nagel (KNIN.S) and DB Schenker would be bigger.
Denmark's DSV is making another try at consolidation in the freight forwarding industry with an unsolicited $4.1 billion bid for Swiss rival Panalpina (SWX: PWTN). Last year, DSV also made an unsolicited $1.5 billion offer for another Swiss freight forwarder, Ceva Logistics, which was thwarted by French ocean carrier CMA CGM. A move to tie up the fifth and sixth largest ocean freight forwarder by volume comes as world trade faces a slowdown in 2019 and freight forwarders will be on the hunt for volumes.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- In M&A, it’s always good to have a Plan B. Danish logistics group DSV A/S has now come up with a credible alternative to its failed attempt to buy Ceva Logistics AG last year — a 4 billion-franc ($4 billion) tilt at Swiss peer Panalpina Welttransport Holding AG. There’s a clearly of lot of value trapped inside Panalpina. DSV can afford to pay up for it.
ZURICH/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark's DSV has made a $4.1 billion takeover approach to Swiss rival Panalpina to try to close the gap on the world's top three freight transport companies. Shares in Panalpina, which has come under pressure from an activist investor to do a deal, jumped as much as 31 percent to an 11 year high of 179.3 Swiss francs on Wednesday - above DSV's proposal and signalling investors expect a higher offer. Logistics companies are looking to build scale in a fragmented freight transport market.