Knorr-Bremse withdraws its offer for Haldex

“For a successful completion of the merger clearance process, the support and cooperation of Haldex and its Board, which surprisingly have been withdrawn, are indispensable and the key prerequisite,” the German company writes in a press release. After the SSC decision, Knorr-Bremse says it reached out to the Haldex' Board with a request for necessary support and offered to explain the next steps in the merger clearance process and updated plans for the proposed combination. However, according to Knorr-Bremse the Haldex board has denied this request for support and cooperation and thereby act against the majority vote of the extraordinary general meeting of Haldex, where shareholders decided to support and cooperate in regards to the merger clearance process. Without the cooperation and support of Haldex, merger clearance cannot be obtained. Therefore, Knorr-Bremse withdraws the offer and must terminate the merger clearance process. “It is thus a consequent step to withdraw the Offer and move on. The combination of Haldex and Knorr-Bremse would have been our preferred option which was clearly backed by the shareholders of Haldex. However, we will now pursue alternatives. With respect to our shareholding in Haldex we will act as a responsible shareholder and use all our options now at hand in the best interest of the company and Knorr-Bremse,” said Klaus Deller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse AG.