FAG Kugelfischer, the German ball-bearings manufacturer, has accepted a takeover offer from German rival INA Holding Schaeffler, which will allow its financial advisers Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs to collect their success fees after a month-long defence battle.
When details of INA's first offer, of €11 ($10) per Kugelfischer share, emerged in late September, it looked unlikely that Kugelfischer's advisers, Merrill or Goldman, would be collecting any success fees for a takeover deal. At the time Uwe Loos, chairman and chief executive of Kugelfischer, laid out several options for his company, and he said in a statement: "We are convinced that the options favoured by Kugelfischer will generate significantly greater value for Kugelfischer shareholders than the INA offer."
