Bobst receives public tender offer from largest shareholder to take machinery giant private

25 Jul 2022 --- Bobst Group’s largest shareholder JBF Finance (JBF) has made a public tender offer for all publicly held shares in the world-leading supplier of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment. 

Following completion of the offer, JBF expects to be able to take Bobst Group private through a delisting of its shares from the SIX Swiss Exchange, allowing the company to “focus on long-term and sustainable growth.”

This offer will also give the company the appropriate conditions to deploy a long-term strategy, execute its digital transformation and maintain its strong Swiss industrial activities, says JBF.

The Swiss investment management firm currently holds approximately 53% of the shares and voting rights in the company. It will pay CHF 78 (US$80) in cash per share, which it says represents a premium of 22% compared to the average price of the last four weeks.

The offer is not subject to substantial conditions. If approved, the deal is expected to complete in November this year.Bobst’s Digital Master 340 leverages flexo experience and innovative inkjet developments.

Transaction highlights include:

• Bobst Group continues to be managed by independent board members and family board members.
• Bobst Group will enjoy “the best possible” conditions to transform the business into a digitized, connected and sustainable packaging supply chain.
• JBF is committed to the long-term legacy of the 5th generation of families and to sustaining the industrial base of Switzerland.
• Shareholders have the opportunity to realize their investment at an attractive price.
• Bobst Group’s Board of Directors, represented by the Committee of Independent Directors, has reviewed the Offer and said “it is convinced of the business rationale of the transaction and welcomes the possibility for shareholders to tender their shares at a premium in these uncertain times.”

Expected timeline:

• September 5, 2022: Publication of offer prospectus, including the report of the Board of Directors.
• September 20 to October 3, 2022: Main offer period.
• October 10 to October 21, 2022: Additional acceptance period.
• Early November 2022: Offer settlement.

In recent news, Bobst has provided coating machinery capable of handling water-based systems to a multi-participant project pioneering a closed-loop recycling model for multilayer PET packaging.

In March, the company enhanced its All-in-One, All-Inline portfolio with the new Digital Master series, leveraging proven flexo experience and recent innovative inkjet developments. The Swiss packaging machinery company says the Digital Master 340 and Digital Master 510 will change how label production is set up.

By Joshua Poole