Rumours TomTom NV is considering delisting its shares

Rumours TomTom NV is considering delisting its shares, TomTom Delisting from Stock Market - the four founders of TomTom, who are still heavily invested in the company, will bid together with two investment funds for all the remaining shares. : On Friday a Dutch business magazine (Management Team) ran a story about a rumour of TomTom majority shareholders considering a delisting from the Amsterdam stock market. The article sent shares of the GPS maker up 15 percent.

Management Team based its claim on two anonymous financial sector sources.

The market capitalization of the company is today around €750 million and it is owned by the four founders (Harold Goddijn, Corinne Vigreux, Pieter Geelen and Peter-Frans Pauwels), with almost 12 percent each and 12 percent owned by an associated private equity fund (Cyrte/Janivo), leaving 43 percent on free float.

While the delisting could be feasible with the current stock value, it is unclear what benefit would bring such a move to the majority shareholders.

Martijn den Drijver, Head of Equity Research at SNS Securities, analyzed the rumoured delisting saying: “A transaction whereby the founders and Janivo/Cyrte take TomTom private is possible from a financial point of view but does not appear logical. Unless the founders have come up with a new strategy that improves profitability rapidly. But we see none and if there is one, they should also be able to implement that strategy as a listed company.“

TomTom will announce its earnings for the first quarter of 2012 this week, on 25 April 2012.

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