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Battle brews for Nordic bank
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November 12, 1998: 6:35 a.m. ET
Denmark's Den Danske bids for Fokus, topping Handelsbanken offer
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LONDON (CNNfn) - A cross-border bidding war heated up among Scandinavian banks Thursday, as Norway's Fokus received a 77 Norwegian crown per-share ($10.3) offer from Denmark's Den Danske.
Fokus shares soared 12 percent or 7.5 crowns on the Oslo stock exchange to 71.5 crowns.
Fokus, Norway's fourth-largest bank, is already the object of a 70 crown per- share offer from Sweden's Handeslbanken.
Den Danske announced it had bought a 10 percent stake in Fokus, which is valued at 5.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($750 million).
The offer is conditional upon Den Danske winning the approval of Fokus' board, and getting acceptances from at least 90 percent of Fokus' shareholders.
Earlier this week Fokus's proposed merger with two other Norwegian banks fell apart.
Fokus said it will consider the bid at a board meeting Thursday night.
Handeslbanken said it is analyzing the new offer and will comment in a day or two.
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