Greiner continues to woo Recticel shareholders in face of Carpenter deal

Brussels – Greiner has responded to the news that Recticel received an unconditional bid for its flexible foam business from Carpenter. 

Greiner said it believes the offer from Carpenter does not offer good value to Recticel shareholders.

Greiner, which is offering EUR 13.50/share, said in a note to shareholders that it believes that Recticel's total value could be EUR1.17bn, or EUR20.8/share, assuming customary trading multiples for the insulation and bedding division. ‘Greiner's bid implies an enterprise value for the engineered foams division of Recticel in line with Carpenter's conditional offer.'

Recticel replied that the offer from Carpenter is unconditional, binding, and only depends on regulatory and shareholder approval. It is a cash offer which is free of debt, Recticel said.

It added that the implied value of the insulation business that would remain with Recticel after the engineered foams business is sold to Carpenter, is too low. The Greiner bid implies that this is EUR411m. '[This] is significantly below the average broker consensus valuation of EUR708m,' it said.

Recticel said that it will announce its plans for the proceeds of the sale of the engineered foams business at a later date, and will issue a formal response to Greiner's bid in due course. 

Greiner said its offer gives Recticel stakeholders a better outcome, and urged shareholders to vote against the Carpenter offer at any future Recticel meeting called to discuss it. 

Greiner's offer is open until 17 December 2021. 

If the Carpenter-Recticel deal gets all the green lights it needs to proceed, then there could be scope for rationalisation in Belgium, where the new company would have two sites at Roselare (Carpenter) and Wetteren (Recticel). In France, Carpenter's sites at Hunigue and Noyant would join Recticel's at Langeac, Louviers and Triport. The only other place that the two companies have multiple production sites in the same country is the UK, where Carpenter has an operation in Glossop, Derbyshire and Recticel in Alfreton which is also in Derbyshire. 

In the US, Recticel recently acquired a foamer in Michigan through its purchase of Foam Partner from Conzzeta in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills. This is about 200 miles (320km) from Carpenter's site at Elkhart, Indiana.