BMW heir seeks exemption from takeover bid rule

Frankfurt

STEFAN Quandt has asked German regulator Bafin to excuse him from takeover rules that otherwise could force him to make an offer to buy the whole of BMW, a spokesman for the Quandt family told Reuters on Tuesday.

Following the death of BMW shareholder Johanna Maria Quandt last week, a 16.7 per cent voting stake in the German carmaker has been passed on to her two children.

As a result, Mr Quandt's voting stake in BMW has increased to 34.19 per cent, above a 30 per cent threshold which triggers a compulsory takeover offer under German rules. "Stefan Quandt lodged a request for an exemption with the regulator yesterday," the family spokesman said.

Bafin declined to comment on the BMW share package, explaining that the regulator never comments on individual cases.

However, a spokeswoman said that it was possible to gain an exemption from making a mandatory takeover offer if share packages have changed hands through divorce, inheritance or via a gift between close family members such as a spouse.

Mr Quandt is seeking an exemption because the size of his stake has been temporarily inflated by legal and takeover rules which double-count the votes from the BMW stake previously controlled by his mother.

For now, the 16.7 per cent voting stake in BMW is being credited to both Mr Quandt and his sister, Susanne Klatten, because they jointly inherited their mother's voting shares.

Mr Quandt previously held a 17.4 per cent stake in BMW and Ms Klatten's was 12.5 per cent, meaning that the whole Quandt family held 46.6 per cent together. "There is no change in the size of the family stake, and no change in BMW's freefloat," the family spokesman said.

Once a more formal division of his mother's fortune has taken place, Mr Quandt's stake will fall below the 30 per cent threshold, the spokesman said.

Mrs Quandt, who died at the age of 89, was the wife of Herbert Quandt, the German industrialist credited with BMW's revival in the post-war years who died in 1982. REUTERS