April 4: Wind energy major Suzlon announced on Monday that it will acquire the full shareholding in its European subsidiary REpower. Suzlon currently owns 95.16 per cent of the registered share capital of REpower. In a message to the stock exchange, the company has said that under the German law, a shareholding of 95 per cent or above in a German stock corporation allows the majority shareholder to initiate ‘squeeze-out’ proceededings with respect to the minority shareholders.
The company has therefore provided a notice to the management board of REpower requesting the conduct of the squeeze out procedure. This will mean REpower will finally be a fully owned subsidiary of the firm. The process will be subject to additional expenditure and completion of procedural steps as required by the German law, Suzlon said. It had acquired a controlling stake in REpower in 2007 after a long takeover battle with French power major Areva. Ultimately, the two rivals decided to work together to manage the German firm. Suzlon had valued REpower at $1.6 billion at the time. Meanwhile, the board of Suzlon also passed a resolution enabling the firm to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore via issue of fresh shares.