Axel Springer Wins Over SeLoger With New $846 Million Bid

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - German publisher Axel Springer'sFrench takeover target SeLoger.com agreed to a raised offer onTuesday [Jan. 18], which values the online property advertising firmat 634 million ($846 million).

Springer, publisher of Europe's best-selling tabloid Bild, hadtargeted SeLoger as it steps up its push to capture the migration ofadvertising to the Internet.

The new offer of 38.05 per share was 12 percent above Springer'sinitial offer of 34 which SeLoger had rejected.

"Raising its offer will prove advantageous for Axel Springerbecause it means the takeover bid is now friendly and has theagreement of SeLoger.com's management," Commerzbank's DirkVoigtlaender told Reuters, adding the deal would allow Springer toexpand in France and in the online advertisement industry.

The French company's share price jumped 8.5 percent to 37.80after they resumed trading at 1300 GMT following a brief suspension.Springer's share price was up 4 percent at 124.85.

Springer had unveiled plans to buy SeLoger in September andbought 12.4 percent of the company at 34 a share from shareholdersincluding management and supervisory board members. But SeLogerhired an outside consultant who put the value of the company at 37to 40 a share, prompting the French company to mount a defensestrategy against Springer. It said it had doubts that Springer wasserious about gaining strategic control of the company and suspecteda "creeping takeover."

To allay SeLoger's concerns, Springer said on Tuesday its topped-up offer would only become effective if enough shareholders tenderedtheir shares to push its stake in SeLoger above 50 percent.

"(SeLoger's) supervisory board has unanimously declared therevised offer in conformity with the interests of the group, itsshareholders, its customers and its employees," Springer said.

It said SeLoger's supervisory board recommended that shareholdersaccept the new offer and cancelled plans for a special shareholdermeeting in which it had planned to seek to limit the power ofminority shareholders.

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Investors Decide

Shareholder Groupe Arnault, the investment company of luxurygoods tycoon Bernard Arnault that owns about 9 percent of SeLoger,said it would decide in the coming days whether to accept Springer'slatest offer.

The offer "may not look that appealing to many, (as it is) barelyin line with analysts' target prices", said a trader who declined tobe named.

According to Thomson Reuters StarMine, analysts have on averageset a target price for SeLoger shares of 38.28.

"My feeling is that certain big shareholders will accept theoffer," SeLoger Vice-Chairman Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux said in atelephone interview.

Aside from Arnault and Springer, SeLoger's biggest shareholdersare Australian investment fund Caledonia Investments with a stake ofalmost 11 percent and hedge fundwith about 10 percent.

SeLoger, which was created in 1992, carries nearly 2 milliononline classified property ads and provides information on relatedservices such as insurance.

"Axel Springer could consolidate the activities (of SeLoger) andlift some midterm synergies with its own real estate online portalimmonet.de," DZ Bank analyst Harald Heider said.

Byand, with additional reporting by Michelle Martin