Conti’s Supervisory Board “Open to Talks With Schaeffler”

Continental AG’s management is struggling to find a majority willing to back its anti-takeover strategy on the group’s supervisory board. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung confirmed earlier reports that supervisory board head Hubertus von Gruenberg sees a merger with Schaeffler as beneficial and therefore is skeptical about getting involved in a drawn out battle with the takeover aggressor. Hans-Olaf Henkel and Michael Frenzel, CEO of TUI AG. are also believed to back negotiations with Schaeffler, the paper added. However, supervisory board members Diethard Breipohl and Fred Steingraber are said to be sticking to their guns with a view to eventually forcing Schaeffler to increase its bid, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

In addition to continuing to fight for the right to defend the company from being taken over, Continental’s management have reportedly also added Morgan Stanley to its team of about eight banks advising it on defence tactics. Morgan Stanley joins advisers Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc.