Believe shares resumed trading strongly on Tuesday morning, closing in on the price offered by a consortium to take control of the group.

The stock, which was suspended yesterday following the presentation of the offer, jumped by almost 19% this morning after an hour and a half of trading.

The TCV and EQT investment funds, in association with Denis Ladegaillerie, CEO of the digital music specialist, announced yesterday that they had decided to form a consortium with the aim of initiating a takeover bid for all shares at a price of 15 euros per share.

The investor group plans to acquire the shares of three historical shareholders, bringing its stake to almost 72% of the capital.

The offer price represents a premium of 21% over Friday's closing share price, as well as a respective premium of 44% over the weighted average share price over the last 30 trading days.

In a reaction note, however, Stifel analysts recommend that shareholders do not tender their shares to the offer, which they consider insufficient.

Stifel points out that "the operation, which is simply intended to allow the exit of historical shareholders who were becoming impatient, does not value the company at its fair value, and even less on the basis of its full potential".

Stifel points out that the offer values Believe at 1.15x its expected sales for 2024, far from the multiples on which Spotify (2.6x), Warner Music (3.5x) or Universal Music (4.4x) are trading, even though the company is growing faster than the sector and its competitors.

For Christopher Dembik, Investment Strategy Consultant at Pictet Asset Management, the acceleration of takeover bids in the Paris small-cap segment is no coincidence.

It's a sign that valuations are low, but also that there are refinancing difficulties for many companies in this sector", he stresses.

"Capital flows continue to be monopolized by large caps, and this is unlikely to change any time soon", warns the analyst.

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