Autostrade crossroads

12 February 2003

If the Benettons scheme to gear the company up succeeds, their shares may be worth more than the Benettons are offering. The snag is that if all Autostrade shareholders hang onto their shares, the Benetton scheme won t succeed and their shares will plummet.

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The Benetton family company Schemaventotto on Tuesday raised its offer for Autostrade from E9.50 to E10 per share. Schemaventotto already owns 30% of Europe's largest private tollroad operator.

The Benettonled offer for Autostrade runs out on February 21. On Monday night, only 3% of the shares had been tendered. Schemaventotto said that the bid was only certain to go ahead if it got 66.7% or more acceptances. The new offer is worth about E8.3bn.

Schemaventotto, which had ruled out sweetening its offer, said that the banks which are financing the bid agreed to the increased price.

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