MUNICH — The owners of Hella will pick a buyer for their majority stake this weekend, the German automotive lighting group said on Thursday.
A person familiar with the matter said Hella had received binding offers from three bidders — French suppliers Faurecia and Plastic Omnium, and Germany’s Mahle.
All three offers are at the expected level of around 60 euros ($70) per share, the person said.
That price, based on the three-month average of Hella’s share price, values the group at about 7 billion euros ($8.2 billion). The stock closed at 64.50 euros on Wednesday and fell 2.6 percent to 62.86 euros on Thursday’s news of the offers.
Hella’s founding family, which is seeking a buyer for its 60 percent stake, is working with investment bank Rothschild on the transaction, sources told Reuters earlier this week.
Under German takeover rules, buying a 60 percent stake in Hella would trigger a takeover bid for the remaining shares.
Hella said on Thursday it had finalized negotiations with all interested buyers on a business combination agreement, each of which it says was acceptable and protected the interests of the company and its stakeholders.
It did not comment on who the bidders were or on what price they were offering.
Hella ranks No. 41 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $5.5 billion during its 2020 fiscal year.
