Weidmüller issued a public takeover offer for all shares of R. STAHL. The takeover offer will provide a price of EUR 47.50 per share of R. STAHL.
R. STAHL is one of the world's leading suppliers of electrical and electronic products and systems for explosion protection.
But it may not be all smooth sailing. R. Stahl's executive board released the following statement: "Representatives of company Weidmüller already tried to talk to the family consortium as our principal shareholder.
"The family consortium refused entering into discussions. In the past, R. STAHL has been confronted with such inquiries from time to time. In all these cases, the family consortium always stood by the company in order to continue to maintain the company's independence.
"We, the Executive Board, think that we will be able to continue the positive developments of the last decades and continue to lead the company in its present structure to a successful future. That is why we will go on concentrating on our core competences."
With R. STAHL, Weidmüller is pushing ahead its objective of developing itself from a components manufacturer into a solutions provider in all of its business areas. This entails a focus on comprehensive connection systems and connectivity solutions.
Dr Peter Köhler, Chief Executive Officer of Weidmüller, said: "The combination with R. STAHL would be an important step to offer a broader product range to our respective customers, thereby allowing us to position ourselves even better in the face of international competition.
"Such international competition is particularly characterised by enormous worldwide demand in the automation and industrial production area. Company size is of crucial importance in this environment. Together, we will be able to offer better solutions to our customers at competitive prices."
[Image courtesy: R. STAHL]