UPDATE 30.03.2025 (6 PM CET):I have received confirmation that there will be no squeeze-out. As a result, I may update or delete this blog post soon.That said, why would UBS release such a statement in the first place?I’m currently awaiting a response from UBS for further clarification.***
"No shareholder is being forced to sell us their shares. Anyone who wants to remain a shareholder has the opportunity to do so,"- Naguib Sawiris (January 2025)LPSO (Sawiris) has expressed its intention to acquire all remaining shares through a squeeze-out procedure in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 2 and Article 18, paragraph 5 of the Swiss Merger Act after the expiry of the additional acceptance period."- UBS (March 2025)
Dear Blog Readers,
Yes, that's VERY bad news. UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, has sold my ODHN shares without prior warning.And it gets even dirtier: In a letter dated January 9th, UBS told me that "without your instruction by our deadline, we will not take any action in this matter." The deadline was February 3, 2025, at 5:00 PM. Today, one month later, they sold my ODHN shares without any prior notice. Is this even legal?Ironically, I still hold ODHN shares in my Swissquote Bank account. I'm currently gathering more information to understand what exactly is going on.
And if that wasn’t wild enough, here’s another story you can’t make up:There’s the Orascom Development Holding (ODH) company, which currently has a market cap of CHF 325.43 million. It consists of many subsidiaries, at least one for every country they operate in. Its largest subsidiary (ODE) is even listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
ODE (Egypt)
Orascom Development Egypt SAE is now, as of March 30th, 2025, worth CHF 462.7 million. The group (ODHN) holds 75.1% of this subsidiary, which equals CHF 347.49 million. That means, brace yourself, the market cap of the entire group is, at CHF 325.43 million, lower (!) than the value of just one of its daughter companies. Keep in mind, the group (ODH) also owns unprecedented amounts of additional assets and land reserves across several countries (Oman, Montenegro, Switzerland, the UK, ...). If we are now officially being squeezed out at these rock-bottom prices, with UBS and IFBC claiming this is a "fair" offer, and the Board refusing my request for a second fairness opinion, it has become painfully clear that all four parties have been working together toward exactly that goal. All morals are lost. Once again, I urge all minority shareholders to get in touch with me as soon as possible.
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