Imperial Tobacco has announced its offer to acquire Spanish-French tobacco company Altadis SA for € 50 per share.

Altadis has confirmed that it will recommend Imperial’s offer to its shareholders in the absence of a competing offer.
Imperial’s offer values Altadis at € 16.2 billion (USD 22.3 billion), taking into account Altadis’s net debt and the interests of minority shareholders. The proposed offer will be financed through new bank facilities and an underwritten rights issue.
After completion of the deal, which Imperial expects to be finalised in the first quarter of next financial year due to approval by both parties as well as Spanish regulatory authorities, Altadis CEO Antonio Vázques and the president, Jean-Dominique Comolli, will join the board of Imperial Tobacco.
The headquarters of the enlarged group will be in Bristol. The headquarters of the cigar division will remain in Madrid, as will the headquarters of the logistics business, according to Imperial’s press release. The enlarged group will also maintain a substantial presence in Paris.
Imperial currently is and will remain the fourth-largest cigarette manufacturer worldwide, but by acquiring Altadis will gain substantial market share especially in Western Europe, where it will become the second- largest market player, up from its current ranking of fourth.
Imperial said it expects annual operational efficiencies of approximately € 300 million and estimates that the one-off cash cost of achieving these savings will be about € 470 million. The company further plans to dispose Altadis' non-core assets worth € 650 million.
The acquisition will also give Imperial the world’s largest cigar business by sales, including the Montecristo, Cohiba and Romeo y Juleita brands. Imperial will further take over 59.02 per cent of the shares in Spanish logistics company Logista, which will trigger a requirement under new Spanish takeover laws either to make a tender offer to acquire the outstanding Logista shares held by minority shareholders or to reduce the shareholding in Logista to below 30 per cent within three months. Imperial said it will take a decision ‘at the relevant time’.