Saint-Gobain headquarters
The French construction materials group Saint-Gobain announced on Wednesday that it was in advanced talks to acquire its Australian competitor CSR, confirming information reported earlier by the Bloomberg News agency.
In a statement, Saint-Gobain said it had approached CSR’s board of directors with a non-binding indicative offer to acquire the entire share capital of the company at a price of A$9 per share.
“Saint-Gobain believes that a combination with CSR would be attractive for both groups, leveraging their long-standing partnership with similar business models, cultural proximity and development opportunities,” the French group said in a statement.
On the Sydney Stock Exchange, trading of CSR shares was suspended during the session after a jump of 17.43%, to 7.95 euros, which followed the information from Bloomberg.
As of Tuesday’s close, CSR’s market capitalization stood at 3.23 billion Australian dollars, or 1.96 billion euros, according to LSEG data.
In Paris, Saint-Gobain shares reduced their losses after confirmation of discussions with CSR and fell 0.27% around 09:35 GMT.
(Written by Kanjyik Ghosh; Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse and Kate Entringer)