Funds managed by Marlin Equity Partners, LLC and Altor Fund III LP and Altor Fund V AB of Altor Fund Manager AB proposed a voluntary offer to acquire Meltwater N.V. (OB:MWTR) from a group of shareholders for NOK 5.6 billion.
Completion of the Offer will be subject to the following main conditions being satisfied or waived by the Offeror: The Offeror obtains a minimum acceptance level of the Offer of at least (i) 95% of the Fully Diluted Target Shares as at the last day of the Offer period, or (ii) 80% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares, less treasury shares as at the last day of the Offer period if the Company's general meeting has approved the Merger, Share Sale and Liquidation (as defined below). The minimum acceptance level of 80% cannot be waived; That the EGM (as defined below) of Meltwater has approved the Merger, Share Sale and Liquidation restructuring measure in accordance with the Transaction Agreement; The Board shall not have revoked, modified, amended or qualified its recommendation of the Offer; Relevant regulatory approvals having been obtained; Meltwater has in all material respects conducted its business in the ordinary course and in accordance with the terms of the Transaction Agreement, no action by a relevant authority has been taken and no material adverse change or material breach of the Transaction Agreement by Meltwater has occurred. Subject to customary launch conditions, including the approval of the Offer Document (as defined below) by Oslo Børs, the Offer will be made as a recommended voluntary exchange offer in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and applicable Dutch regulations on the terms and subject to the conditions set out in the Transaction Agreement. The Offer will not be conditional on financing or further due diligence. The Merger, Share Sale and Liquidation are subject to the adoption of certain shareholder resolutions at an extraordinary general meeting of the Company, to be held during the Offer period (the EGM). As of March 30, 2023, Oslo Børs, in capacity as take-over supervisory authority, has approved the offer. The Offeror is expected to launch the Offer at the end of Q1 2023. Availability of the Offer and/or Consideration Shares is expected to be subject to legal restrictions in certain jurisdictions. As of March 31, 2023, offer period under the tender offer is commenced and is expected to expire on May 10, 2023. The offer period can be extended, but will in no event be extended beyond June 9, 2023. As of April 28, 2023 To give shareholders sufficient time to consider the Offer following the extraordinary general meeting as required under Dutch law, and pursuant to sections 3.3.3 and 3.3.8 of the Offer Document, the buyers hereby extends the Offer Period until May 11, 2023. As on May 2, 2023, Meltwater shareholders approved the transaction. Minimum acceptance condition satisfied on May 23, 2023. The European Commission approved the deal on May 26, 2023. According to the regulator, there were no competition concerns in relation to the deal. As of June 19, 2023, MW Investment announced that it has obtained regulatory approvals from US competition authorities, Turkish competition authorities, and Saudi Arabian competition authorities. As of May 11, 2023, the offer has been extended until May 22, 2023. As of May 22, 2023, the offer period has been extended until May 26, 2023 (subject to extension, but not beyond June 9, 2023).
J.P. Morgan Securities plc and DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, are serving as financial advisors to Meltwater. Schjødt, Houthoff and DLA Piper are acting as legal advisors to Meltwater. Carnegie AS is acting as financial advisor to the Offeror, Altor and Marlin, in connection with the Offer. Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP are acting as legal advisors to Altor. Advokatfirmaet Wiersholm AS, Stephen Lee, Brian Raynor and Michael Cainand Joshua Zachariah and James Ding of Goodwin Procter LLP and AKD N.V. are acting as legal advisor to Marlin.