press release of Ceska sporitelna:
The Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of Česká spořitelna expressed today their opinion on the proposed mandatory tender offer by Anteilsverwaltungssparkasse (AVS) to the bank’s shareholders and stated that the offer is in line with the interests of the shareholders, the employees and the creditors of Česká spořitelna.
AVS intends to offer CZK 372.40 for a common share and CZK 177 for a priority share. AVS is obliged to launch the offer under the Commercial Code, after AVS and Erste Bank, acting in concert, exceeded a two-third share of Česká spořitelna voting capital.
In order to deliver an objective judgment, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of Česká spořitelna retained financial institutions specialist investment bank Fox-Pitt, Kelton to provide an independent fairness opinion on the financial terms of the intended mandatory tender offer.
On the basis of the independent fairness opinion by Fox-Pitt, Kelton and in line with the Commercial Code, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board stated that the intended mandatory tender offer by AVS is in line with the interests of Česka spořitelna shareholders, employees and creditors for the following reasons:
* Fox-Pitt, Kelton has expressed the opinion that the intended mandatory tender offer price of CZK 372.40 per common share and of CZK 177 per priority share is fair for the shareholders of Česká spořitelna from a financial point of view.
* AVS has declared that the intended mandatory tender offer will not have a substantial effect on the current planned business activities of the bank.
* The personnel strategy of AVS will be in line with the personnel strategy of Erste Bank, the majority owner of Česká spořitena.
* AVS and Erste Bank are credible and stable institutions.
Klára Gajdušková, Public Relations, CS