Mexichem Rebuffed As It Ups Offer For Wavin

Mexichem has improved an unsolicited offer for Dutch pipemaker Wavin, but saw the move rejected by the target company. The Mexican petrochemical company offered EUR9.00 in cash per ordinary share of Wavin, up from the EUR8.50 offered on November 22. Although “certain progress has been made on non-financial items…the proposed offer price of EUR9.00 per share is not acceptable as this price materially undervalues the company and its prospects,” say Wavin. At EUR9 per share, Mexichem is assigning the Dutch company an enterprise value to Ebitda multiple of roughly 7.5x, assuming equity of $450m, net debt of anywhere between $300m to $330m and an Ebitda of $100m to $105m, says a person familiar with the transaction. Barclays and Citigroup are advising Mexichem, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch is doing the same for Wavin. Wavin shares closed Tuesday at EUR7.83, down 0.89%.