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| Hochtief sells its 43.5 percent stake in Aecon via ’bought deal’  Aecon Group, Canada's largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company, has entered into an agreement with German construction giant Hochtief AG and a syndicate of underwriters co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Paradigm Capital Inc., pursuant to which the underwriters have agreed to purchase all of Hochtief's 16.6 million Aecon common shares at a fixed price of CAD 6.30 per share. Hochtief and Aecon signed a cooperation agreement for the continued joint development of the market. The agreement also stipulates that Hochtief will resign all of its existing seats on Aecon's Board of Directors, with one Director remaining for the duration of Hochtief's guarantees relating to Aecon's project in India.Hochtief's intention regarding its equity position in Aecon has been an open question since an attempt to take the company private in 2004 was turned down by Aecon's shareholders. Prior to the privatization proposal, Hochtief had said that its strategy of holding large minority interests in various construction companies around the world had changed, and that it would be bidding for full control of some of its holdings and exiting or substantially reducing its stake in the others. The offering is scheduled to close on or about November 30, 2006. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |