Campari's controlling shareholder believes the spirits group's planned move of its registered office to the Netherlands will succeed, saying it was supporting the move by buying shares from investors who had exercised withdrawal rights.
The Aperol maker announced in February that it planned to move its registered office to Amsterdam and introduce an enhanced loyalty share scheme, a move aimed at increasing M&A opportunities.
Shareholders who opposed the change of domicile plan could exercise withdrawal rights.
A Tolerable Cost
In March, after Campari's shares fell well below the withdrawal price of €8.376 per share, Campari's board said a tolerable cost to liquidate those shares would be around € 7 - €8 million.
Lagfin, Campari's key shareholder, said late on Sunday it had bought 30 million withdrawn shares, thus reducing Campari's liquidation costs to below the level deemed tolerable by its board.
The investor added it would purchase an additional 1.7 million shares at the price of €8 per share and estimated the cost to Campari would now be around €5.3 million.
Redomiciliation
'Lagfin expects that the redomiciliation of Campari to the Netherlands can therefore be completed,' the holding company of the Garavoglia family said.
Camapri shareholders approved the redomiciliation plan at a meeting in March, subject to several conditions. They are due to vote again on the move on 26 June.
News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
