Safran Defends $10.2 Billion Bid for Zodiac From TCI Attack
- Buying French seat-maker won’t jeopardize finances: chairman
- McInnes rejects ‘short-term logic of milking the business’
Safran's Chairman Says Board Good Stewards of Capital
Safran SA Chairman Ross McInnes shot back at a public campaign by The Children’s Investment Fund to block its 9.6 billion-euro ($10.2 billion) purchase of Zodiac Aerospace, saying the proposed deal is financially sound and consistent with the plane-engine manufacturer’s strategy in aerospace.
In a six-page letter, McInnes attacked assertions that Zodiac holders would receive inequitable treatment as “baseless.” The document, issued Thursday after a Safran board meeting, is a response to a filing 10 days ago by the hedge fund, run by Christopher Hohn, asking French market regulator AMF to require a vote by Safran shareholders on the purchase. TCI also wrote directly to McInnes, arguing that the deal favored Zodiac’s controlling family and core shareholders to let them avoid taxes by doing a stock swap.