Investors urge Altadis to consider Imperial takeover offer

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — Three of Franco-Spanish cigarette maker Altadis's biggest investors have urged the company's board to accept a takeover bid from Britain's Imperial Tobacco if rivals do not emerge as bidders soon, The Times reported on Thursday.

Imperial offered 11.5 billion euros (15.2 billion dollars) for Altadis last week but the takeover was unanimously rejected. Altadis said that the 45-euros-per-share approach undervalued the company and its prospects.

US investment funds Franklin Mutual Advisers, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley, which together with their affiliates own around 23 percent of Altadis, have told the cigarette maker's board that they see a deal as necessary because of consolidation in the tobacco sector.

"While obviously they would like to see...