Bain and Cinven may seek clearance to make fresh bid for Stada

German pharmaceutical group Stada Arzneimittel confirmed on Tuesday that private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven are considering submitting an application for regulatory clearance to make another takeover offer for the company after their previous bid failed.

Stada said Nidda Healthcare Holding, the acquiring company of Bain and Cinven, is considering submitting an application to the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for an exemption from the one-year exclusion period to make a renewed voluntary public takeover offer.

"Stada is currently assessing whether the company would give its consent to the exemption from the exclusion period and will keep both the capital market and the public updated on further progress in this regard, in line with the applicable legal requirements."

Shares in the company slumped last week after it emerged that the private equity groups had failed to win the required shareholder support for their offer. The offer achieved a 65.62% acceptance, falling short of the revised 67.5% minimum hurdle, which was dropped down from 75%.

The Financial Times reported late on Monday that Bain and Cinven were readying a fresh €4.1bn takeover offer for Stada as early as this week. It cited sources as saying that they would offer the same €66 euros per share but the minimum acceptance threshold would be cut to 65% or less.

At 0915 BST, the shares were up 2.4% to €64.01.