EuroGroup Laminations plummets on the stock market after FountainVest blocks takeover due to lack of Indian authorisation

Close to mid-session EuroGroup Laminations's share price managed to make a dent and began trading down 56.5% at €1.54 per share. In the morning, the company announced that the deal with FountainVest, an Asian private equity firm, which intended to acquire a majority stake in the Italia-based manufacturer of electric motor components at €3.85 per share, had fallen through.

In detail, it was not possible to obtain the Indian authorities' authorisation for foreign direct investment, which was one of the conditions precedent for the completion of the deal. A definitive stop, therefore, to the transaction, which also envisaged a takeover bid on the remaining shares with the aim of delisting the company.

In July 2025, Ems Euro Management Services had agreed to sell its 45.7% stake in EuroGroup Laminations to an investment vehicle owned by the Hong Kong-based fund for EUR 3.85 per share. According to the agreements, Ems would then reinvest 50% of the sale proceeds in a new holding company formed with FountainVest to hold the ownership of EuroGroup. FountainVest had also concluded an agreement to acquire Tikehau Capital's 7.9 per cent stake in the Italia group for the same price, meaning that at the closing of the deal, which was scheduled for the first half of 2026, the new holding company would hold 55.3 per cent of the voting share capital. Subsequently, according to plans, a takeover bid would be launched on the remaining shares, again at EUR 3.85, for a valuation of the company of EUR 626 million, with the aim of delisting it. On the day the transaction was announced, the EuroGroup Laminations share price had gained 52.62%, reaching EUR 3.56 per share and aligning itself with the proposed purchase price. Today, however, the stop came.

According to Egla's disclosure, the process initiated with the Indian authority responsible for issuing the authorisation for foreign direct investment was discontinued due to 'complexities that arose during the process'. Ems and FountainVest therefore initiated and conducted negotiations to identify alternative solutions that could equally allow the transaction to be completed in compliance with Indian regulations, while minimising the impact on the shared business plan, including the hypothesis of a possible spin-off of the group's Indian subsidiary. However, these negotiations were unsuccessful and the agreement signed in July between the parties was terminated. Egla, which is not a party to the contractual agreements between Ems and FountainVest and was not involved in the discussions regarding the impossibility of proceeding with the transaction, emphasised that 'the termination of the transaction does not affect the industrial and financial prospects of the company', which in fact confirmed the group's development lines and medium-long term prospects.