The German government yesterday launched an effort to nationalize battered lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG (HRE), announcing a voluntary takeover offer worth 290 million euros (US$384 million).
The government’s bank rescue fund said it would offer 1.39 euros per share of the commercial property lender — above the stock’s closing level in Frankfurt on Wednesday of 1.20 euros.
The fund said the offer “provides an opportunity for HRE shareholders to sell their investment at an attractive price” and was some 10 percent above the statutory minimum of 1.26 euros per share.
It adds up to about 290 million euros for all shares not yet in the government’s hands.
The rescue fund said in a statement yesterday that “if HRE were to become insolvent, this would have substantial, barely quantifiable consequences for the national and international financial markets.”
The government moved last month to take an initial 8.7 percent stake in Hypo Real Estate, buying new shares in the Munich-based company for 60 million euros.
The bank said then that it was “a prerequisite for the intended recapitalization of Hypo Real Estate” that the government “gain full control.”
A new law signed this week by German President Horst Koehler would allow the government to expropriate shareholders if voluntary efforts to secure stock fail. It has until June 30 to do so.
US private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Co LLC and Grove International Partners LLP and their shareholders currently own 21.7 percent of Hypo Real Estate. New York-based Flowers has said it wants to remain a shareholder.
Last week, it said it “remains open to constructive talks” with the German government bank rescue fund — but added that it “reserves the right to pursue all other options, including legal recourse, to safeguard the interests of its investors.”
Hypo Real Estate has become the most prominent German victim of the financial crisis. It ran into trouble last September after its Dublin-based unit Depfa Bank PLC failed to find short-term funding amid the widening credit crunch. Since then, the government has shored it up with loan guarantees covering some 87 billion euros.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS