Philip Morris International has elevated its provide for smokeless tobacco specialist Swedish Match, pushing the worth it’s ready to pay up by just below 10 per cent because it seeks to develop in cigarette options.
The elevated provide comes after hedge funds constructed a stake in Swedish Match. US group Elliott Management has constructed a 7.25 per cent stake within the Swedish firm, based on Bloomberg knowledge.
PMI provided SKr106 per share for Swedish Match in May, however on Thursday elevated that to SKr116 per share, valuing the goal’s fairness at about SKr176bn ($15.7bn).
PMI stated it could not improve the provide additional. It added that the brand new provide was a 52.5 per cent premium to the group’s share worth earlier than the unique provide was made in May. Swedish Match shares closed at SKr110.3 on Wednesday.
PMI chief government Jacek Olczak stated that the brand new worth “primarily reflects the higher net value to PMI . . . given currency movements since the initial offer was announced in May.”
“We believe that the deterioration in the global economic outlook, equity markets and the interest rate environment since the time of the initial offer strengthens yet further the attractiveness of the revised offer,” he added.
Swedish Match produces snus, a well-liked tobacco product in Scandinavia, and oral nicotine pouches, that are the quickest rising different nicotine class.
The Stockholm-based firm’s Zyn product is the biggest nicotine pouch model within the US. Sales of Swedish Match’s pouches elevated greater than 50 per cent final 12 months within the US and Scandinavia.
Separately, PMI agreed on Wednesday to pay tobacco group Altria about $2.7bn for the US commercialisation rights for IQOS, a line of ecigarettes.
Source: www.ft.com