The Cimic Group Ltd (ASX: CIM) share price is entering the stratosphere during early morning trade on Thursday. This comes after the company announced a takeover approach from a leading German construction group.
At the time of writing, the Cimic share price is $22.01, up an astonishing 33.47%.
Cimic flys on takeover announcement
According to the release, Cimic advised that its majority shareholder, Hochtief Australia has made an off-market takeover offer.
Headquartered in Sydney, Hochtief Australia operates as a holding company for German construction major, Hochtief AG (FRA: HOT). The group provides construction, services, and concessions/public-private partnerships (PPP) focused on Australia, North America, and Europe.
The takeover offer is an unconditional and final cash offer of $22 per Cimic share that Hochtief does not own. Currently, the German group holds a 78.58% interest in Cimic.
Hochtief also lodged a copy of its bidder's statement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). This document, detailing all the information about the offer, is expected to be dispatched to Cimic shareholders about 9 March.
In response to the offer, the Cimic board has appointed an Independent Board Committee (IBC) to evaluate and respond to the takeover bid. Once a decision has been made, the IBC will update Cimic shareholders in due course. This will include an independent expert's report on whether the offer represents good value for the company.
Cimic stated that its shareholders do not need to take any action at this point in time.
Cimic share price snapshot
Over the past 12 months, Cimic shares have been mostly tracking sideways until today's takeover proposal announcement. Since then, the company's shares have skyrocketed back to February 2021 levels.
Currently, the Cimic share price is 2% up on this time last year. But it's more than 30% higher year-to-date due to today's announcement.
Based on today's price, Cimic presides a market capitalisation of $5.13 billion.
