German telecommunications and engineering group Mannesmann AG has denied a newspaper report that it was open to a friendly bid to fend off the hostile take-over by Britain's Vodafone Airtouch Plc.
A spokesman described as "pure speculation" a report in a British newspaper stating that Mannesmann was open to an approach by a so-called white knight partner to save it from the record €131 billion hostile bid by Vodafone if a new offer presented a significantly better value.
"This is pure speculation, we are not looking for a white knight," he said. The Sunday Business newspaper said that among potential bidders for the Duesseldorf-based group were British Telecom Plc, US telecommunications groups MCI WorldCom and BellSouth Corp and French conglomerate Vivendi. It did not cite any sources. BT declined to comment on the report.
Mannesmann chief executive Mr Klaus Esser has repeatedly said that the group wanted to remain independent without recourse to a white-knight rescue. Last week he reiterated in a newspaper interview the rejection of Vodafone's all-share bid, now valued at around €131 billion ($133 billion), repeating the group had better growth potential if it stayed independent. He also announced Mannesmann would intensify from the start of next month its defence against the hostile bid.
The British cell-phone giant's offer runs for 46 days to February 7th.
Separately, a leading German conservative politician, Bavaria state's Prime Minister Mr Edmund Stoiber, said the Mannesmann bid battle showed the country needed stricter take-over rules to better safeguard employee rights. He told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he would like to see shorter deadlines for an official take-over offer, a requirement for a cash element and employee protection clauses.
Tighter deadlines would prevent "months of uncertainty among employees and companies as is now the case with Mannesmann," he said.
Under the current German rules, a bidder can give shareholders between 28 and 60 days to decide whether to reject or accept its offer.
