Hitachi's Decision to Purchase Shares of Ansaldo STS for EUR 10.5 Per Share Confirms that the Tender Offer Price Deeply Undervalued Ansaldo STS

LONDON, March 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ELLIOTT, the second largest shareholder of Ansaldo STS, holding an overall long position equal to 28.872% of its corporate capital, acknowledges Hitachi Rail's decision to purchase no. 6,936,764 shares of Ansaldo STS for a consideration of Euro 10.50 per share, plus a right to potential upwards adjustment in case of further purchases at a higher price (or certain cases of sale of its participation) within the next two (2) years.

Hitachi Rail's conduct confirms that its public tender offer significantly undervalued Ansaldo STS.

Indeed, Hitachi Rail's decision to purchase shares of Ansaldo STS for EUR 10.5 per share (plus a potential upwards adjustment) continues to undervalue Ansaldo STS as recognized by Hitachi itself, whose board of directors expressly acknowledged, on 10 December 2014, that: "[…] if Tower's [i.e. Finmeccanica] stake in Queen [i.e. Ansaldo STS] were subjected to an auction process as a stand-alone transaction, the price would be around 12 euro per share (compared with the offer price of €9.4 per share). This implies a discount with an absolute value of approximately €550m on the Queen [i.e. Ansaldo STS] Equity Value achievable by purchasing Bishop [i.e. Ansaldo Breda] as well" (as indicated in CONSOB's decision (atto di accertamento) on the increase of the offer price).

ELLIOTT is confident that the Italian regulators and judiciary will protect the rights of minority shareholders in accordance with the law.

ELLIOTT continues to believe that Ansaldo STS is a unique company which, under the right management, has extremely attractive future prospects. ELLIOTT is committed to ensuring that Ansaldo STS continues to be managed in the interest of all investors, not just its main shareholder, in accordance with the best corporate governance practices.

About Elliott 

Elliott Associates, L.P. and Elliott International, L.P. together have approximately $27 billion of assets under management. Founded in 1977, Elliott is one of the oldest investment funds under continuous management. The Elliott funds' investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, high net worth individuals and families, and employees of the firm.