The Board of paper and packaging group Jefferson Smurfit has recommended a takeover bid from US private equity house Madison Dearborn Partners.
The deal values Smurfit at around €3.7 billion. Shareholders will get €2.15 per share plus one Smurfit Stone share per 16 Jefferson Smurfit shares held.
The offer represents a premium of about 38 per cent to the market value of Smurfit shares (excluding Smurfit Stone shares) on May 1st, the day before the bid was first announced.
Jefferson Smurfit is currently capitalised at €3.49 billion - split between the €1.29 billion value of its 29.5 per cent stake in Smurfit Stone Container Corporation and the €2.2 billion value the market is attributing to the group excluding the Smurfit Stone stake.
In a statement, Smurfit's Independent Directors said they considered the proposal to be in the best interests of shareholders and urged all shareholders to accept the offer and vote in favour of the deal.
The statement said the company considered the offer from Madison Dearborn to be "fair and reasonable from a financial point of view".