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Mexichem to Buy Wavin for $703 Million

09.02.2012 -

Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem will buy Dutch peer Wavin for €531 million after raising its offer a third time, gaining a foothold in Europe where it plans to expand through more deals.

Mexichem, a chemicals group based near Mexico City, will pay €10.50 per Wavin share, up from a previous approach at €10. Wavin listed in Amsterdam in 2006 at €11.

Mexichem has grown through takeovers to become a leading plastic pipe maker in Latin America. Acquiring Wavin will make it the world's biggest with annual sales of €4 billion.

The company will see its annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rise 15% on the deal, an executive told Reuters.

It expects unspecified synergies from Wavin, Europe's biggest plastic pipe maker which competes with Finnish group Uponor as well as Swiss companies Georg Fischer and Geberit.

Wavin, faced with a stagnating European construction market and margin pressure, said on Wednesday it planned to cut 150 jobs to tackle challenging markets in countries including Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands.

Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd, which owns about 8% of Wavin and had said the previous offers were too low, said it now had a more positive view.

"The difference between the offer and the value we had in mind has become a lot smaller," Jack Jonk of Delta Lloyd Asset Management said, adding that he would take a final decision during the offer period.

Wavin shareholder ASR said that while 10.50 euros was reasonable, it had not yet made a decision whether to offer the shares.

Wavin Chief Executive Henk ten Hove said it had explored rival offers but had not received any other approaches.

ING analyst Thijs Hollestelle said he did not expect a rival bidder to emerge. "It will go through at this level," he said.

Wavin shares fell 65% in 2011 before Mexichem first made an offer, of €8.50 per share, in November which it later lifted to €9.

Mexichem, which controls its entire plastic pipe supply chain, from salt mines to manufacturing to distribution, currently makes 4% of its total sales in Europe, but adding Wavin would boost that share to 25%, Enrique Ortega, Mexichem's head of investor relations, told Reuters.

Ortega said that if the deal is completed, Mexichem's EBITDA this year could rise to $1.15 billion compared with the $1 billion estimated in January.

Ricardo Gutiérez Muñoz, president of Mexichem's executive committee, told reporters the company would continue to search for takeover targets in Europe.

On the same call, Wavin CEO Ten Hove said Georg Fischer was not on the list of takeover candidates.

Private equity firms AlpInvest Partners and CVC Capital Partners listed Wavin in 2006, cutting its net debt at the time to €655 million.

The company, which had €230 million net debt at the end of 2011, carried out a rights issue in 2009 valued at €227 million to help repair its finances at a time when Europe was suffering a building slump.