Denmark’s fast-growing logistics group DSV has issued an official statement confirming that its recent offer to takeover CEVA Logistics was rejected by the CEVA board.

In the statement, DSV said: “In response to CEVA Logistics announcement this morning, DSV can confirm that it has made a private proposal to CEVA’s Board of Directors to acquire CEVA for CHF 27.75 (USD28.10) per share.

“The proposal would provide CEVA shareholders with an attractive premium of 50.7 percent to CEVA’s share price of CHF 18.42 (USD18.42) as of October 10, 2018.

“Our proposal has been rejected by CEVA’s Board of Directors, and DSV has no dialogue with CEVA regarding a voluntary public tender offer for the outstanding equity of CEVA.”

DSV added that it has “long respected and followed CEVA’s business and believes combining the two companies would deliver significant value to all stakeholders (including shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers)”.

It continued: “We are confident that a combination would be in the best interests of the stakeholders of both companies as it presents a unique opportunity to build on the successful legacies of our businesses by extending our service offering and giving our combined operations additional scale.”

CEVA’s statement said that “the proposal significantly undervalues CEVA’s prospects as a standalone company, particularly as CEVA Logistics together with CMA CGM as a strategic partner has been exploring measures to enhance performance in order to unlock CEVA Logistics' full potential.”

The statement added that in light of the current circumstances, CEVA’s board agreed to the request from its major shareholder to modify the current stand-still agreement between the two companies. CMA CGM's duty to not increase its holding above the current 24.99 percent of the share capital before November 5, 2018 has been amended to the effect that CMA CGM is allowed to increase its holding up to one third of the voting rights of CEVA Logistics with immediate effect.

HLPFI readers may recall that CMA CGM acquired its 25 percent stake in CEVA Logistics as part of the planned flotation of the CEVA business earlier this year as we reported here.

www.cevalogistics.com

www.cma-cgm.com

www.dsv.com

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