(Reuters) - Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne (L1) fund said on Friday it would seek to reduce the minimum acceptance offer for its bid for Spanish supermarket chain Dia.
The investment fund announced the plan in a statement on Friday, shortly after extending the acceptance period for the takeover bid to May 6.
Following weakening results from Dia earlier, LetterOne will seek to reduce the minimum acceptance rate for the takeover bid to 20 percent from 35 percent shareholders, it said in a statement to Spanish market regulator CNMV. LetterOne, which controls 30 percent of the struggling supermarket chain, originally hoped to coax shareholders to sell it half of the 70 percent it does not own.
Following opposition from some shareholders, LetterOne now seeks to acquire only 20 percent.
For LetterOne to be allowed to downsize the minimum shareholder acceptance, the CNMV must agree that the 0.67 euro per share offer is a fair price.
This is the second change after LetterOne extended the previous deadline earlier this month.
(Reporting by Sam Edwards; editing by David Evans and Louise Heavnes)
