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Consob definitively blocks the fake takeover bid for Piaggio which was circulating on Linkedin at the end of September. The disqualification measure, signed on 8 November by the President of the Commission Paolo Savona, puts an end to the first case in Italy of blatant abusive bidding, in the sense that the “promoter”, JSC Handel Gruppe, actually did nothing to hide the hoax .
The hoax of September 31st
To begin with, the supposed offer letter – addressed to “Piaggio’s shareholders” – violated the calendar: it was dated 31 September. And it proposed a purchase price of 3.5 euros per share, which – the JSC letter claimed – “represents a 20% premium compared to the closing price on 31 October”: a pity, however, that the future stock market price with a month in advance not even the wizard Merlin could have known it.
However, Consob intervened following the usual procedure, although the somewhat bizarre context had obviously not been overlooked, speaking with the legal representative of JSC, formally established as a limited partnership in Buti, a dozen kilometers away from Pontedera, where it Piaggio headquarters.
The bizarre correspondence
From the provision it is clear that the correspondence coming from the supposed bidder during the assessment process of the market Authority was also bizarre. Just a few examples are enough to understand this. «Our proposal is not abusive, but is based on an accurate and independent assessment of the financial and equity situation of Piaggio», is one of the answers provided to Consob by Paul Cambria, legal representative of the limited partnership, who then declared: «We respected the information obligations required by current legislation on public takeover bids. In particular: we have not sent any communication to Consob because there has never been an offer; we sent Piaggio a draft offer, but they never responded so there was no negotiation; We still don’t know who published the letter on Linkedin, since Mr. Di Cieri says he knows nothing.”
Pierluigi Di Cieri was the name to which the Linkedin web pages with the so-called offer were attributable, but «Di Cieri did not provide feedback to the information requested by Consob», we read in the Authority’s provision.