MILAN (Reuters) - Hitachi <6501.T> has reached an agreement to buy the stake held by U.S. fund Elliott in Ansaldo STS <STS.MI> and will launch a tender offer for all the shares of the Italian rail-signalling company, the Japanese group said on Monday.
Hitachi and investment funds led by Elliot have been feuding since the Japanese company took a majority stake in Ansaldo STS, with the funds complaining about the price paid in the public offer by Hitachi, as well as Ansaldo's strategy and governance.
Under the deal, Hitachi will buy the 31.79 percent stake that Elliott owns in Ansaldo STS, paying around 807.58 million euros (717.51 million pounds). It will then launch a bid for the rest of Italian company with the aim of delisting it.
Hitachi will buy shares in Ansaldo STS at 12.70 euros, offering a premium of around 9.5 percent on Friday's reference closing price of 11.60 euro.
($1 = 0.8776 euros)
(Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Giulia Segreti and Edmund Blair)
