The Deconinck family has failed to fulfil its objective of acquiring all of the outstanding shares in Tarkett. Upon expiry of the offer period set for 10 June to 9 July, the company Tarkett Participation founded for the purpose of the acquisition holds 86.3% of the share capital and 85.4% of the voting rights. As such, 13.7% of the Tarkett shares are still in free float. A free float of less than 10% would have led to the initiation of a squeeze out followed by delisting. The French financial watchdog Autorité des Marches Financiers (AMF) had already ruled out an extension of the takeover offer beforehand.
With the support of Wendel Group, the Deconinck family had announced its plan to acquire all of the shares in Tarkett in April. To achieve this, the smallholders were presented with a simplified tender offer (OPAS) on 26 April at a price of €20 per share. This equated to a mark-up of 38.1% on the weighted average share price of the preceding 20 days. Deconinck had already been Tarkett’s majority shareholder at that time. The family put its share of 50.8% at that time into the takeover company Tarkett Participation. The intention behind the addition involvement of Wendel Group in Tarkett Participation, along with other Tarkett lenders, was to finance the stock takeover.
