Dai Nippon Printing's ten-week tender offer for AustriaCard Holdings closed on August 21 with 35,099,096 shares submitted, about 96.55% of the Vienna- and Athens-listed company's voting stock. That comfortably clears the 75% minimum the Japanese printer needed for the offer to succeed, and it puts DNP's holding well past the 90% mark that triggers a squeeze-out under Austrian company law.
What it does not yet clear is Austria itself. As of August 25, DNP had obtained foreign-investment clearance in Greece and Romania and competition clearance in Austria, Germany and Turkey, but Austria's own foreign-investment regulator had not signed off on the deal. Settlement of the tendered shares cannot begin until that last approval arrives; DNP says the offer will become legally effective as soon as it does.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tender price | €10.0 per share (including dividend) |
| Shares tendered | 35,099,096 (about 96.55% of voting rights) |
| Acquisition value | About €351mn (about ¥65.2bn) |
| Squeeze-out threshold | 96.55% achieved versus 90% required under Austrian law |
| Clearances obtained | Greece and Romania foreign-investment; Austria, Germany and Turkey competition |
| Clearance still pending | Austria foreign-investment approval |
| Additional tender window | August 26, 2026 to November 26, 2026 (Vienna time) |
The price was €10.0 a share including dividend, valuing the tendered stake at roughly €351mn, or about ¥65.2bn at DNP's disclosed July conversion rate. AustriaCard makes payment IC cards, national ID cards and variable security printing across Europe, Africa and North America; DNP said it had no prior capital, personnel or trading ties to the company before the offer. AustriaCard's largest shareholder, Nikolaos Lykos, held 74.58% of the company before the bid.
Squeeze-out and a delisting timetable
Because acceptances passed the 90% threshold, DNP intends to hold an AustriaCard shareholder meeting and use Austria's squeeze-out procedure to pick up the remaining shares once the outstanding clearance is granted, taking its holding to 100%. AustriaCard's shares currently trade on the Vienna Stock Exchange and Euronext Athens; if the squeeze-out goes ahead, both exchanges' standard delisting rules would apply. Separately, Austrian law entitles the remaining minority holders to a fresh window to sell into the deal: a three-month additional tender period running from August 26 to November 26, 2026, Vienna time.
AustriaCard's own numbers show a business under some margin pressure even as DNP takes control. Revenue fell to €360.2mn in the year to December 2025 from €392.3mn the year before, and operating profit slipped to €29.7mn from €34.1mn; net profit attributable to shareholders dropped to €14.7mn from €19.0mn. Net assets, by contrast, kept rising, from €107.2mn at the end of 2023 to €135.9mn at the end of 2025.
The acquisition gives DNP control of a business that runs payment IC card, national ID and variable security printing operations across Europe, Africa and North America. The company expects to complete acquisition of the initially tendered shares during the second quarter of the year to March 2027 and says the impact on its consolidated results for that year should be minor. That leaves one open variable on the calendar: the date Austria's foreign-investment regulator issues its clearance, which now governs when AustriaCard formally becomes a Dai Nippon Printing subsidiary.