Guanabara extends EcoSecurities offer

GUANABARA HOLDINGS has extended its cash offer for EcoSecurities, the Dublin-based developer of emission-reduction projects, after receiving acceptances from shareholders holding 12.3 per cent of the company.

EcoSecurities restated its opposition to the bid yesterday and, in a brief statement, called on shareholders to reject the offer. The 77 pence-a-share proposal, which had been rejected by the EcoSecurities board as inadequate, will now remain open until September 2nd, Guanabara said in a statement.

Under takeover rules, Guanabara had until yesterday to say if it would withdraw, extend or raise its offer. The terms and conditions of the offer are unchanged.

Guanabara is a Dutch company set up by EcoSecurities’s former president, Pedro Moura Costa. Its bid includes funding from BTG Investments LP, led by Andre Esteves, former head of fixed income, currencies and commodities at Zurich-based UBS AG.

The offer values AIM-listed EcoSecurities at £91 million (€105 million), which is somewhat less than its £99 million market cap based on its closing share price of 84.5 pence yesterday.

EcoSecurities, manager of the largest number of emission projects overseen by the United Nations, is up 14 per cent since Guanabara announced its offer on July 16th. Guanabara said on August 12th that its bid “represents fair value” because of uncertainties in the global economy and the carbon market.

Guanabara is one of three companies to consider a takeover for EcoSecurities this year, including Tricorona AB. Electricité de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producer, agreed last month not to proceed with a bid in exchange for buying part of EcoSecurities’ emission credits after a takeover.

EcoSecurities chairman Mark Nicholls said on August 4th that 19.9 per cent of shareholders, including the largest stockholder Credit Suisse Group, had agreed to reject the offer. The bid is conditional on achieving an 80 per cent stake, according to Guanabara’s offer document. – (Additional reporting Reuters/Bloomberg)