Following a successful public tender offer, French oil giant Total has completed its friendly takeover of Saft Group, a France-based developer and manufacturer of batteries used in renewable energy storage, among other applications.
In May, Total revealed its plans to acquire Saft through a billion-dollar deal. At the time, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the acquisition would enhance the energy company’s renewables business, which also includes solar provider SunPower.
An announcement from Total says the company now holds 23,456,093 Saft shares representing 90.14% of the capital and voting rights of the battery company. In order to allow shareholders who have not yet disposed of their shares to do so under the same terms of the public tender offer, the offer will be re-opened from July 19 to August 2. Total has confirmed its intention to prioritize investment over dividend payout and will proceed with a delisting of the stock if a level of 95% of the capital and voting rights of Saft is reached.
“Total is pleased with the success of this tender offer,” says Pouyanne. “Our acquisition of more than 90 percent of the shares shows the confidence Saft shareholders have in our industrial project enabling Saft to accelerate its development.”
For his part, Ghislain Lescuyer, CEO of Saft Group, says, “Saft is delighted to join with Total, a major player in the energy sector, which will enable us to accelerate our development.”
