Reuters scores exclusive interview with CEO of Hochtief

Reuters scored a major beat on Sept. 17 by getting the first interview with the CEO of Hochtief after the German construction group suddenly found itself being the target of an unsolicited takeover bid by its main shareholder, Spain’s ACS. Reuters clients were first to hear that Hochtief CEO Herbert Luetkestratkoetter views the bid as hostile and that the company is reviewing its response, exclusive comments which Bloomberg was forced to pick up with a full credit to Reuters. Sources also told Reuters that investment banks were already on the case to prepare a defense strategy for Hochtief. In his only public reaction to the bid so far, the CEO told Reuters that he saw no advantages in ACS’s bid for either Hochtief or its shareholders. The story made waves across Europe and was almost immediately picked up by the online versions of major international news outlets such as El Mundo, Le Figaro, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FTD, and Spiegel Online.