CUXHAVEN (dpa-AFX) - The bidding race for the share package in wind farm project developer PNE currently held by US investment bank Morgan Stanley is apparently entering the hot phase. In the last round, the major shareholder is only negotiating with infrastructure funds, reported the "Wirtschaftswoche" (Wiwo) on Friday, citing informed circles. The Australian infrastructure specialist Macquarie is competing with a vehicle of the world's largest US fund manager Blackrock. According to the report, both offers value PNE at a total of more than PNE's current stock market value of 1.5 billion euros.

PNE shares briefly rose 3.3 percent on Friday, but then came back to trade up 1.85 percent at euro 20.35. "Neither PNE, nor Morgan Stanley initially responded to a short-term request for a statement."

Morgan Stanley had acquired the shares in 2019 for 4 euros a piece and, according to a report by news agency Bloomberg from the end of 2022, aims to raise more than 25 euros per share when selling them, it added. The total valuation would thus be more than 1.9 billion euros. According to the Wiwo report from Friday, the offers from Macquarie and Blackrock value PNE at least once with more than the current market value.

PNE had announced at the end of October that Photon Management GmbH, which is controlled by Morgan Stanley, wanted to hold open-ended talks with possible interested parties about a full acquisition of its shares. At the end of November, PNE CEO Markus Lesser had said at a capital market conference in Frankfurt that numerous inquiries had been received. According to him, a decision should be made by February or March.

Should Photon Management sell the entire stake to an acquirer, the latter would have to submit a voluntary public takeover offer or a mandatory offer to acquire all remaining PNE shares./lew/mis