Shares in digital imaging systems producer Agfa Gevaert climbed on Thursday after it said it had declined to engage in talks with privately-held Kanteron Systems regarding a potential takeover bid.
The company said that it had received a non-binding letter of intent from Kanteron Systems relating to a voluntary conditional leveraged takeover offer on Sept. 11, confirming information from a blog post published by Kanteron a day before.
“Agfa Healthcare business unit revenues have been stagnant in the last few years. However, a deal with Kanteron would allow Agfa to tap into our leading-edge technology,” Kanteron Systems CEO Jorge Cortellin said in the post.
Kanteron Systems is a Spanish software company active in the healthcare and biomedical IT business, helping manage imaging and genomics data for precision medicine applications.
Agfa said in a statement that its management decided not to engage in discussions with Kanteron Systems at this stage.
Contacted for further comment, company spokesman Johan Jacobs said that “at this stage, we are not convinced that it’s an interesting offer”.
Kanteron Systems was not immediately available for comment.
Agfa’s shares jumped 8.5 percent on the Brussels stock exchange, right after the announcement. At 0840 GMT, the shares were up 3.6 percent.
By Piotr Lipinski
Source: Reuters
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