Photo by Stevanato Stevanato's Ompi EZ-fill glass syringes.

The future ownership of German medical injection moulder Balda continues to be unclear as Stevanato of Italy considers a takeover offer that would be higher than the offer from Heitkamp & Thumann.

Previously Heitkamp & Thumann’s €74m takeover offer beat Paragon Partners’ original €62.9m offer. In the latest twist in the story, Stevanato has stepped forward with a non-binding offer of €80m for Balda, even though shareholders at Balda voted at its AGM to accept the offer from Heitkamp & Thumann. Stevanato has until 14 December to decide if it will make a binding offer for Balda, which is allowing Stevanato to carry out due diligence.

At Balda’s AGM on 30 November and 1 December, shareholders voted 97.4% in favour of accepting H&T’s €74m offer.

A Balda spokesperson explained the current situation in response to Plastics News Europe’s enquiries: “The AGM has approved to sell the entire operating business of Balda to Heitkamp & Thumann. However, should Stevanato submit a binding offer for 80m by 14 December, Balda’s Management and Supervisory Board will review this offer closely and, should they find this offer to be more attractive, will invite for an extraordinary AGM to vote on this subject.”

Christian Diemer, general partner and CEO at Heitkamp & Thumann, said in a 1 December statement his company was pleased Balda’s shareholders had accepted its offer.

“Now it is the responsibility of Balda‘s management and supervisory board to keep the period of uncertainty as short as possible and to close and complete the purchase promptly,” said Diemer. “Our binding purchase agreement provides Balda’s shareholders the opportunity to realize an attractive profit immediately. Not closing the purchase agreement would harm Balda’s operations and reputation and risks the loss of customer confidence."

Heitkamp & Thumann’s press office said the company is not making any additional comment on the situation at Balda and what it would do if Stevanato does make a binding offer.

Stevanato, which makes insulin cartridges and glass primary packaging for the pharmaceutical sector, has not issued a statement about its interest in Balda. The group, which had €285m sales in 2014, has operations in Italy, Denmark, Slovakia, USA, Mexico and China.