Stada CEO, CFO resign as Bain, Cinven ponder new takeover offer

[BERLIN] Stada Arzneimittel AG's chief executive officer and finance director stepped down as Bain Capital and Cinven consider a fresh takeover offer for the German generic-drug maker after a 5.3 billion-euro (S$8.33 billion) bid failed last week.

Stada's supervisory board named Engelbert Coster Tjeenk Willink, a former executive at Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, as CEO, replacing Matthias Wiedenfels with immediate effect, the Bad Vilbel, Germany-based company said in a statement Tuesday.

Bernhard Duettmann, former chief financial officer of chemical company Lanxess AG, replaces CFO Helmut Kraft, according to the statement.

Bain and Cinven could officially approach Stada over a second bid in the coming days, people familiar with the matter said.

The private equity firms' attempt to secure Stada failed last week after months of tension - first as companies competed for the winning bid and then as it became clear their offer wouldn't garner sufficient backing from shareholders.

Bain and Cinven have been talking to their own CEO candidates should their bid ultimately be successful, two people familiar with the matter said. The private-equity duo may seek an exemption from BaFin, Germany's financial regulator, from the one-year waiting period before a new offer can be made, Stada said early Tuesday. Shares of Stada rose 2.4 per cent to 64.02 euros at 11.43am in Frankfurt.

The buyout firms just missed the 67.5 per cent threshold for a successful offer last week, receiving 65.5 per cent of Stada shares. They had already lowered their offer threshold, originally set at 75 per cent, and extended the deadline on the bid in an effort to win more shareholder support.

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