AMA changes reason for Automotive takeover after entry of new board
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Crash repairer AMA has been forced to change the reason for its hostile takeover of Automotive Solutions Group, after the entry of a new board made the original reason null and void.
AMA is offering 35c a share in its second attempt to swallow Automotive (ASX:4WD).
The new offer document — which appeared on Friday with track changes still visible — no longer accuses the board of having “directors who are not united, with two warring factions fighting for control”.
That’s because Automotive’s board was wholly replaced in the last three weeks and the competing “factions” have all resigned, new chairman Dr Kenneth Carr told Stockhead last week.
The two sides had both requested separate extraordinary general meetings on the same day but these have been retracted.
AMA now claims to be a shareholder “concerned at this series of extraordinary events” and worries that there’s no guarantee the directors won’t return.
“Further, [Automotive] is now in the hands of an entirely new board with no prior experience or involvement,” it fretted.
Dr Carr says shareholders should take no action on AMA’s second off-market bid.
He says Automotive will issue a response to AMA’s latest rationale on Monday.
Automotive has commissioned an independent report into the offer, as it values the company at about a third of what it listed at last year, which Dr Carr expects in early December.
It calls the bid “opportunistic”, seeking to gain control of the company for the same price as its first attempt in May, at a time when it’s been burdened with divisions between its directors and some shareholders.
AMA lifted its stake in Automotive to 31.3 per cent in October.
