Suez Supports Ardian's Bid; Says Veolia's Takeover Bid Still Hostile

(RTTNews) - Suez SA said Sunday that its directors and its employee shareholders have supported private equity firm Ardian's letter of intent for the acquisition of a 29.9 percent stake of Engie's shares in SUEZ.

Veolia had offered to buy a 29.9 percent stake in Suez from French energy utility Engie for 3.4 billion euros. The offer is set to expire on October 5.

Veolia, which raised its bid to 18 euros per share share on September 30 from its earlier offer of 15.5 euros, said earlier on Sunday that it has unconditionally committed not to launch a hostile takeover for Suez after acquiring the stake from Engie. Any takeover bid on Suez's remaining capital will require an approval from Suez's board.

Veolia, which has planned to sell Suez's French water activities to avoid antitrust issues, said it has offered to sell some other international water assets to a buyer. Total turnover of the assets to be sold will be about 5 billion euros, including 2.2 billion euros for the French water assets.

But Suez said earlier Sunday it still considered Veolia's takeover approach to be hostile. Suez called Veolia's press release "misleading" and said discussions between the two companies have failed.

Meanwhile, the French government, which holds 24 percent of Engie, has reportedly said that an agreement between Suez and Veolia is still possible.