FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Südzucker's plan for a complete takeover of Cropenergies has triggered a jump in the share price on the stock exchange. The food group wants to pay 11.50 euros in cash per share for the biofuel subsidiary. This news, which came after the close of trading on Tuesday, caused Cropenergies' share price to jump by around 70 percent on Wednesday to the same 11.50 euros. The day before, they had fallen to their lowest level since March 2020 at EUR 6.75.

"An end to the costly boron listing of the subsidiary makes sense for Südzucker," commented one market participant. However, the planned increase in investments and the pressure on margins in the ethanol segment would not change. Analyst Oliver Schwarz from Warburg Research also praised the reduced complexity of the Group as a result of the move. "However, this blessing has its price". After all, Cropenergies is already fully consolidated in the balance sheet and does not generate any additional income.

According to expert Thomas Wissler from AlsterResearch, however, the project will benefit Südzucker's growth strategy. This is because it focuses on the growth areas of plant proteins and bio-based chemicals. The delisting will simplify the capital market profile and reduce complexity. Südzucker is seizing an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of its growth strategy.

Accordingly, the plan was also well received by Südzucker's investors, with the shares recovering by up to 2.7 percent on Wednesday. The shares of biofuel producer Verbio also stabilized by up to 4.5 per cent.

However, the price reactions of the respective shares are also a reaction to the weakness so far this year: Südzucker is still down 13.5 percent in 2023, Verbio even 53 percent. Cropenergies was also up a good 12 percent at the beginning of the year./ag/tih/jha/