ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments confirmed it is raising its offer to minority shareholders to AED1.95 per share from 1.45 after pressure from the regulator to increase the delisting bid. According to a translation of a letter from Aabar released by the stock exchange on Tuesday, the investment firm has set an offer period for tendering shares between July 20 and Aug. 5 — as instructed by the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) on Sunday. Shares of Aabar, the biggest shareholder in German carmaker Daimler DAIGn.DE, will cease trading on the Abu Dhabi exchange on Aug. 5, with only sell orders accepted on that day. The stock will be fully suspended on Aug. 8 the letter said, the date when its majority share holder, International Petroleum Investment Corp (IPIC), purchases all shares tendered during the offer period. IPIC will purchase the tendered shares through the brokers it has appointed. The financial settlement process will be effective on Aug. 10 and shares of Aabar will be registered in the name of IPIC. Aabar's delisting move was announced earlier this year, and minority shareholders were angered by an initial offer price of AED1.45 per share announced last week. On Sunday, UAE government officials asked Aabar and IPIC to raise the buyout offer to AED1.95 — a price based on the average closing price of the share in the six months preceding the offer. Aabar shares have jumped by an amount close to the exchange's daily 10 percent limit every day this week. They closed up, and closed up 8.2 percent on Monday and were bid at 1.89 on Tuesdays remained very few.
