From Bloomberg News:
By Meera Bhatia
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Bang & Olufsen A/S, the electronics
maker that ousted its chief executive officer last month, rose
the most in three weeks in Copenhagen trading after Berlingske
Tidende said the company may be a bid target.
Bang & Olufsen gained as much as 12.5 kroner, or 3.9 percent,
to 333 kroner. The percentage advance was the biggest since Jan.
29. The stock was up 3.6 percent at 332 kroner at 9:22 a.m. local
time, reducing this year's drop to 31 percent.
Private-equity firms may seek to take over the luxury
consumer-electronics maker following the share-price slide, the
Copenhagen-based newspaper reported, without saying how it got
the information. ``Some'' funds are interested in buying the
company, the newspaper said, without identifying them.
Bang & Olufsen ousted Torben Ballegaard Soerensen as CEO on
Jan. 10, a day after forecasting lower earnings. Telephone calls
made to Tino Pedersen, head of information at the Struer,
Denmark-based company, weren't immediately returned today.
Henrik Ekman, asset manager for pension fund LD, declined
to comment, according to Berlingske. LD owns 5.5 percent of Bang
& Olufsen's shares and controls 13.7 percent of its voting
rights, enough to block a takeover, the newspaper said.
--With reporting by Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen. Editor:
Dan Weeks.
