Staff at Mannesmann Dematic Cranes have been keeping a particularly close eye on the financial media for the past couple of months as a high profile battle is waged for ownership of its parent company Mannesmann AG. It seems unlikely, at this stage, that the crane business will be much affected, however.
A hostile takeover bid was launched in November by UK mobile phone operator Vodafone Airtouch, which wants Mannesmann’s blossoming mobile phone interests. With Vodafone making its offer in early December, the big battle for the hearts and minds of shareholders is expected to conclude around the end of January.
Such are the political sensitivities, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has criticised Vodafone’s bid, while UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has had to remind him that there is supposed to be a free market in Europe.
Vodafone, interested only in the mobile phone business, has said that it would float Mannesmann’s engineering and automotive business and not break it up, a strategy that had already been decided upon by Mannesmann. As part of its defence, Mannesmann is accelerating the demerger plan, bringing it forward to mid-2000. Trade sales of parts of the business by Mannesmann, such as mobile cranes or materials handling, are seen by some as a possibility, as they may help to accelerate a demerger. But with the battle just beginning as Cranes Today went to press, it was impossible to predict what the fall-out might be.
