ho_co Posted November 5, 2011 Share #1  Posted November 5, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Leica wants to squeeze out minority shareholders and go private.  Lisa Germany Holding GmbH is also in negotiations with Leica to make Leica Camera a subsidiary of Lisa Germany Holding GmbH.  German-language story at: Leica Camera: Lisa Germany strebt Squeeze-Out und Beherrschungsvertrag an (aktiencheck.de) | News | aktiencheck.de Squeeze Out geplant: Leica soll von der Börse - n-tv.de Das Anlegerportal Unsere Information Ihr Gewinn - boersen-zeitung.de Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 5, 2011 Posted November 5, 2011 Hi ho_co, Take a look here Leica to attempt squeeze-out. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
earleygallery Posted November 5, 2011 Share #2 Â Posted November 5, 2011 I don't know what the report says but it suggests to me that they are preparing to sell Leica on at some point, nice and cleanly. Makes sense after the Blackstone buy in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrism Posted November 5, 2011 Share #3  Posted November 5, 2011 Google translations of these links, for English readers: First Second Third  If Dr Kaufmann is getting tired of his hobby and wants out, then we are in a very uncertain position - Leica becoming a private company and up for sale. Having just re-discovered their groove, it isn't easy to hope that they would gain a new owner that would be able to continue in this direction. More likely they would be broken up for a quick profit. On the other hand, if Dr Kaufmann simply wants a free hand without a tiny minority of shareholders questioning every move, I would be inclined to approve of him having his way as he has done right by Leice (and us users!) so far. Makes me glad my à la carte M7 is in process!  Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
delander †Posted November 5, 2011 Share #4  Posted November 5, 2011 Who are Lisa Germany Holding Company?  Jeff  PS I hate this sort of stuff, nothing can ever be left alone to quietly prosper.  Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noeffred Posted November 5, 2011 Share #5  Posted November 5, 2011 Hold your horses! Just to remind you all: as early as 2007/2008 ACM wanted to take Leica off the stock market. This failed because of some legal thing. (don't remember exactly what it was). Kaufmann has always been against Leica being on the stock market because of the costs associated with being a publicly traded company and the relatively low benefits Leica gets from that.  There are hundreds of articles on that topic. Just google it and check the date  but in case you want a quick link: Leica soll komplett österreichisch werden - Unternehmen - derStandard.at › Wirtschaft  Google Übersetzer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted November 5, 2011 Share #6  Posted November 5, 2011 Who are Lisa Germany Holding Company? Jeff  PS I hate this sort of stuff, nothing can ever be left alone to quietly prosper.  Jeff  The story of Lisa has been scrutinized here recently (see thread on Blackstone) : from the previous news, seemed that Dr. Kaufmann (ACM Holding) has sold just a minority stake to Blackstone, but apparently putting its shares into a common basket with Blackstone (Lisa Holding GMBH, there is ANOTHER Lisa with a slightly different name, which is completely controlled by Blackstone). I wonder if the squeeze out of minority shareholders will be easy... it depends mainly on market regulatory rules... under Italian rules it should be a rather complicated process : a >90% shareholder can, or even must, do a "fair" offer to squueze out minorities, but the basic principle is that none can be obliged to sell his shares, even if the stock is delisted.... to obtain that a "thin" shareholder must sell, you must transform the original company into another... to say Leica sells all its activities to another Company (that eventually, can be re-named Leica Camera Co.) and the board decides that the "empty box" changes its social goal (as written in the statutary declaration) from "making cameras" to something completely different ("lease properties" "buy and sell bananas"...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted November 5, 2011 Share #7 Â Posted November 5, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) As noeffred says, this was tried before. Â The majority shareholders (i.e. Dr. K., ACM, LISA, Blackstone) don't "want out" - they want the minority shareholders out. Presumably because they see a profitable future, and don't want to share any of that lovely lolly. And (again as noeffred says) want to get rid of the headaches and costs involved with being a publicly-traded company. Â I just wonder if that means collectors will have to hand over their "Ein Stuck" M6 commemorative cameras. Â Leica M6 Ein Stuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenPatterson Posted November 5, 2011 Share #8 Â Posted November 5, 2011 It's going to cost more to buy out those minority shareholders. The stock jumped 10% just yesterday. I don't know what they were considering for a tender offer, but the market obviously thinks it will be more (perhaps substantially more). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted November 5, 2011 Share #9 Â Posted November 5, 2011 Leica stock only represents a few percent of the overall value, it is small beer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share #10 Â Posted November 5, 2011 ... as early as 2007/2008 ACM wanted to take Leica off the stock market. This failed because of some legal thing. (don't remember exactly what it was).... Â IIRC, it's because the minority stockholders wouldn't sell then. Luigi's explanation of why that might change with the new ownership is very helpful information for trying to devine Leica's strategy. Â There's nothing wrong with private ownership per se. It gives the owners a lot of freedom they don't have with a publicly-traded company with stockholders looking over their shoulder at quarterly returns. Remember, Leitz was privately held. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdai Posted November 5, 2011 Share #11 Â Posted November 5, 2011 it is small beer. Â That's the best part of it ... so anyone who intends to play could screw up the deal. LoL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share #12 Â Posted November 5, 2011 Who are Lisa Germany Holding Company? ... Â Jeff, see particularly these two posts: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/customer-forum/205686-blackstone-8.html#post1864562and http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/customer-forum/205686-blackstone-8.html#post1864657 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjh Posted November 5, 2011 Share #13  Posted November 5, 2011 That's the best part of it ... so anyone who intends to play could screw up the deal. LoL If you have 95 percent or more of the shares you can enforce a squeeze out. Minority shareholders could still go to court – as some did when ACM had tried this before – if they believe the cash compensation to be inedequate, for example, but if the majority shareholder is really determined there isn’t much to stop him. While the squeeze out will be more costly now than it would have been back then, it looks like ACM and Blackstone are really serious about it this time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenPatterson Posted November 6, 2011 Share #14 Â Posted November 6, 2011 Leica stock only represents a few percent of the overall value, it is small beer. Â Or small ale...India Pale Ale to be exact!!! Â As for me I consider it Armageddon...I plan to buy 9 brand new M9s. I'm 45, and plan to live to be 90 (if my wife doesn't kill me first) so I will have a new M9 every 5 years. If one goes long, then GREAT!!!! If one dies on the vine then I have a hanger queen for spare parts. Either way I should be able to snap away until the Pearly Gates call. Â Let's see 9x$6995=$62,995.......hmmmm.......well.......... Â DOH!!!!!! It was such a good plan!!!! Â Que music...Music swells....."Brother can you spare a dimeeeeeeee,I meannnnnnnnnn, M9999999999999999999" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted November 6, 2011 Share #15 Â Posted November 6, 2011 I suppose it is all just business, butI feel they went public when cash infusion was needed. Well they got the cash to fix a rough patch, and now that profits are coming in they want to toss out the investors. Â Minority stock holder get kicked around all the time as I have been involved in many spin off transactions. It goes well for a bit, then crashes usually. They guys who made out, the executives who wanted to get rid of some unprofitable division. My standard policy is to take the cash now instead of new stock. If it does somehow go, then they want to get rid of people who hold small amounts anyway. You get complaints it costs too much to maintain the small amounts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.