Boulogne-Billancourt (France), 28 March 2024 (6:00 p.m.) – Following an offer notice received from Veralda to sell 49% of its shares, 2.4m shares corresponding to 1.12% of the outstanding shares in Kindred, at 122.5 SEK, FDJ has decided to exercise the right of first refusal forming part of Veralda’s irrevocable undertaking and disclosed at the time of the Kindred transaction announcement on January 22nd, 2024.
As a result, FDJ has acquired 2.4m shares representing 1.12% of Kindred’s outstanding shares and Veralda’s irrevocable undertaking will continue to apply to Veralda’s remaining 1.16% stake in Kindred.
On January 22nd, 2024, La Française des Jeux SA (“FDJ”), announced a recommended public offer to the holders of Swedish depository receipts (the “SDRs”) in Kindred Group plc (together with its subsidiaries “Kindred” or the “Company”) to tender all their SDRs in Kindred to FDJ at a price of 130 SEK in cash per SDR (the “Offer”). For the sake of simplicity and because each SDR represents a share in Kindred, the SDRs will also be referred to as “shares” and the holders as “shareholders”.
As previously communicated, FDJ has obtained irrevocable undertakings to accept the Offer from shareholders representing 27.9% of the outstanding shares. One of these shareholders, Veralda, representing a 2.3% stake in Kindred, was allowed to sell 50% of its shares after Kindred’s March 15th, 2024, general meeting amending its bylaws to provide for squeeze-out rights of an offeror. If Veralda decided to sell its shares, it undertook to first offer FDJ the possibility to buy the shares at a price not higher than the price in the Offer of 130 SEK per Share.
On March 18th, 2024, Veralda notified FDJ of its intention to sell 2.4m of its shares, corresponding to 1.12% of the outstanding shares in Kindred, at a price of 122.5 SEK per share. FDJ has decided to exercise the right to buy these shares from Veralda at such price.
After this purchase, FDJ holds 1.12% of the outstanding shares in Kindred and the remaining irrevocable undertakings with Corvex Management LP, Premier Investissement SAS, Eminence Capital, Nordea and Veralda represent in total 26.82% of the outstanding shares in Kindred.
The offer documentation, which includes detailed descriptions of the irrevocable undertakings, is available in English and Swedish on the FDJ Group website: