Deals
Frere Makes Offer for CNP as Leverage Eclipses Strategy
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Belgian billionaire Albert Frere’s 1.5 billion-euro ($2.1 billion) offer to buy out minority investors in Cie. Nationale a Portefeuille SA may signal the end of the investment firm’s unleveraged buyout strategy.
Nationale a Portefeuille’s strategy will be different from that pursued in the past, Loverval, Belgium-based Fingen SA, the unit of Erbe SA that’s making the offer, said today in a statement. Managing Director Gilles Samyn, 61, has lamented Nationale a Portefeuille’s lack of success in buying companies at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Loverval in recent years.