Takeover target Thrane & Thrane, the Danish satellite communications equipment maker, has hired FIH Partners to carry out a strategic review, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
Waldemar Schmidt, Thrane’s chairman, said FIH had been hired to conduct the…
Takeover target Thrane & Thrane, the Danish satellite communications equipment maker, has hired FIH Partners to carry out a strategic review, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
Waldemar Schmidt, Thrane’s chairman, said FIH had been hired to conduct the review after the company received an unsolicited approach from a third party for a majority stake.
Announcing the approach on 27 February, the company stated: “The indication of interest received lists certain conditions to be met, before committing to a formal offer.”
Schmidt declined to disclose these conditions, but said the company planned to announce the result of the review by 14 March. An update could be announced sooner if the group receives a formal bid.
Only two shareholders currently hold a stake of more than 5% in Thrane: Lars Thrane, who co-founded the group in 1981 with his brother Per Thrane, and Jupiter Asset Management, which owns 10.8%.
FIH also advised Thrane when it filed an IPO on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in March 2001. This offer comprised 500,000 new shares, raising around DKr60m (US$10.8m) for the company, and 1,530,000 existing shares, contributing approximately DKr183m (US$33m) to the selling shareholders.
Carnegie Bank was global co-ordinator, bookrunner and lead manager for the IPO, while Danske Securities acted as co-lead manager.
Thrane posted DKr1.093bn (US$193m) in revenue for the year to 30 April 2011, up from DKr1.051bn (US$190m) the year before. Its full-year 2011 operating profit increased to DKr194m (US$35m), from DKr114m (US$21m) in 2010.
The company manufactures equipment and systems for global mobile communication based on satellite and radio technology across four market areas: Maritime, land mobile, aeronautical and systems. It develops land earth stations for various Inmarsat services, and employs around 600 staff across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, China, Singapore and the US.
