Keep it in the family

The $400-million contested battle for textile manufacturer Holvis Group reveals a major loophole in Switzerland's regulations on corporate takeovers. The battle for Holvis began when forest products group International Paper Co. (IP) got an irrevocable option to buy 25% of the company, and launched a $435-per-share bid to buy the rest of the shares. Holvis looked for competing bids and attracted BBA Group PLC, which offered $500 per share provided that BBA gets an exclusive right to buy Fiberweb, Holvis's nonwoven textile business. The bid was thus locked at $500 per share to the detriment of minority shareholders.
The Holvis takeover highlights failings of the Swiss law Big deficiencies in the regulatory regime for Swiss takeovers have been shown up by the country s first contested bid - [...]