Investor, part of the Wallenberg family empire, has acquired 820,000 A shares in Scania, bringing its stake in the company to over 20% from 19%.
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According to the Dagens Industri newspaper, an Investor spokesman said that the move will help define the right industrial solutions for Scania.
Investor has thus far resisted attempts by MAN to take over Scania, saying that the offer of EUR10bn does not value the company highly enough. But this latest move appears to be designed to strengthen Scania’s resistance, and help Scania retain its independence.
Investor is the second largest shareholder in Scania. The largest shareholder, Volkswagen (34% stake), is in favour of an alliance between MAN and Scania in principle, and has acquired shares in MAN (over 20% at present) to ensure it continues to have an influence over the proposed merged company.
Eventually it also hopes it can bring in its own Brazilian truck operations into the company. To date, however, Volkswagen has not been in favour of a hostile takeover, which would make integration of the companies difficult. It has therefore removed itself from merger discussions until mid-November, in the hope that MAN would reach a friendly agreement with Investor.
