Leica to be deleted from stock listings by April 2012

[ho_co]

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In follow-up to the Blackstone entry:

 

Leica has announced very positive preliminary results to the DAX (more exact figures to come in a couple days).

 

Leica intends this time to be successful at buying out the minority shareholders.

 

Leica wants to purchase outstanding shares and delist itself by April 2012.

 

The entrance of Blackstone as a major investor has made this possible and made it unnecessary to consider a further flotation of shares as a way of raising capital.

 

Sources (German language):

• Leica Camera: Auf Squeeze-out gezoomt - Empfehlungen Deutschland & Europa - B
  
• Leica Camera mit weiterer Umsatzsteigerung im ersten Halbjahr des Gesch
  
• Halbjahresfinanzbericht: Leica wieder auf der Straße zum Erfolg - Industrie - Unternehmen - Handelsblatt
  

 

Citation from the last source listed:

Kaufmann teilte am Freitag mit, er wolle die Besitzer der restlichen 2,44 Prozent der Stimmrechte bis spätestens April 2012 gegen eine entsprechende Abfindung aus dem Unternehmen drängen. Dann soll Leica von der Börse genommen werden. Kaufmann begründete den angestrebten Squeeze-out damit, dass mit dem Einstieg von Blackstone „eine Finanzierung von Leica über den Kapitalmarkt künftig nicht mehr notwendig“ sei. Zudem verringere der Rückzug von der Börse die Kosten im Unternehmen, weil keine Hauptversammlungen mehr einberufen und Quartalsberichte erstellt werden müssten.

 

"Kaufmann reported on Friday that he wanted to force the owners of the remaining 2.44% of voting shares out of the company by means of a commensurate compensation by April 2012 at the latest. Then Leica shares will be removed from the stock market. Kaufmann justified the planned squeeze-out, saying that with the entry of Blackstone, 'a financing of Leica via the capital markets will in future no longer be necessary.' In addition, delisting the stock will reduce the firm's costs, because quarterly meetings and reports will no longer be necessary."

[UliWer]

Here is the financial report for the last six months in English: Leica Camera financial press release_en 09 2011.pdf

[sdai]

... because quarterly meetings and reports will no longer be necessary."

 

I would have been fed up with armchair CEOs telling me what to do ... this forum has immediately lost half of its value on this latest development. LOL

[NZDavid]

Does this mean Leica Camera will no longer be AG? Will this mean new engravings?

[chrism]

Does this mean Leica Camera will no longer be AG? Will this mean new engravings?

 

Ah, now come the important questions!

 

Chris

[andybarton]

So, within a couple of weeks, Leica get "bought" by a private equity company and so does the vital division of one of their most important suppliers.

 

Maybe I will wait until the dust settles before topping up the M9 savings account.

[Guest Holy Moly]

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So, within a couple of weeks, Leica get "bought" by a private equity company and so does the vital division of one of their most important suppliers.

 

Maybe I will wait until the dust settles before topping up the M9 savings account.

 

I would be smart to buy the last M with Kodak CCD. Of course the cam must be shrinked into a vacuum bag.......

It would be even smarter to get a now unloved grey/silver version.....

[NZDavid]

As above: Will Leica AG (for Aktiengesellschaft, a publicly listed company) revert back to GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, a private limited liability company)? Perhaps someone with some knowledge of German business will know? That will mean not only changing the engravings and scripts on all the company's products, but all the stationery company literature, too.

[Ellie]

As above: Will Leica AG (for Aktiengesellschaft, a publicly listed company) revert back to GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, a private limited liability company)? Perhaps someone with some knowledge of German business will know? That will mean not only changing the engravings and scripts on all the company's products, but all the stationery company literature, too.

 

I can see the Aktiengesellschaft is the same word as Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish and it only says there are stocks. The company I work for went from publicly listed to private (all stocks are now owned by one person). Nothing changed with the name in the process..

[luigi bertolotti]

I can see the Aktiengesellschaft is the same word as Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish and it only says there are stocks. The company I work for went from publicly listed to private (all stocks are now owned by one person). Nothing changed with the name in the process..

 

Same in Italy... SpA (Società per Azioni = Aktiengesellschaft) is always SpA even if not public: in detail, if it has a single shareolder, it only must be declared as "SpA Unipersonale (single person) " for in this case our law states that the 100% stockholder is also personally responsible for the company's obligations (for this reason, many single stockholders SpAs have indeed 99,99% or so of the shares belonging to the entrepeneur, and the rest simbolically belonging to his accountant or lawyer or so...)

[luigi bertolotti]

Here is the financial report for the last six months in English: [ATTACH]286764[/ATTACH]

 

EBIT at almost 25% of sales !!! (Nikon is at 13-14% in last 6 months)....Finally one can say that Leica products cost so much also because "they want to earn a lot onto"

[adan]

I'll kinda miss seeing Leica's quarterly/annual reports - especially the breakdowns of sales by region (not in the press release, but in the actual report). Pure voyeurism, but it was interesting to watch the steady growth of the percentage going to Asia ove the past decade.