Private equity firm EQT bids $3.94 billion for Germany’s Zooplus

Zooplus AG, one of Europe’s largest online pet supplies’ retailers, said on Saturday that Swedish private equity firm EQT AB has made an offer to buy the company for about $3.94bn. 
 
EQT’s 470-euros-per-share offer for Zooplus comes after U.S. private equity company Hellman & Friedman this month raised its offer to buy the company for €3.29bn from an initial €3bn.
 
The deal represents a premium of about 69% to Zooplus’s last close on Aug. 12, the day before Hellman & Friedman made its first offer.

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The company, which has benefited from rising online demand for pet supplies during the pandemic, said in a statement that its management and supervisory boards welcomed the takeover offer from EQT.Earlier in the month, U.S. financial investor KKR & Co Inc terminated its talks on a potential takeover offer for the company, two days after Hellman & Friedman raised its offer.

Source: Reuters

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