M & A

Rhön-Kliniken: Blockade resolved

At the shareholders’ meeting of Rhön-Kliniken AG in June, the clinic operator’s shareholders unexpectedly voted for a change in the takeover threshold. Previously a majority of 90 percent was required for major strategic decisions affecting the future of the Prime Standard listed Rhön. But now only the statutory threshold of 75 percent will apply.

But what looks like a victory could yet turn into a defeat. The major shareholder and rival B.Braun Melsungen, which together with Asklepios could prevent the takeover of Rhön-Kliniken by Fresenius with the help of the 90 percent barrier, will contest the decisions of the shareholders’ meeting because its votes were not counted at the meeting. Thus a takeover of Rhön-Kliniken still remains an open question.

Rhön AG, from Franconia, already wanted to merge with the Dax listed Fresenius group last year in order to advance its plans for a nationwide provision network. But in the meantime, Asklepios and B.Braun have increased their shareholdings in Rhön to 10.1 percent, thus reaching a blocking minority in the clinic operator and putting its competitors in a position to prevent the merger of Rhön with Fresenius’s clinic division Helios.