Ford-Werke Plans Squeeze Out Of Minority Shareholders

COLOGNE -Dow Jones is reporting that Ford-Werke AG, the German arm of Ford Motor Co . , plans to pay cash compensation of EUR640 per share to minority shareholders, the company said Friday.

Ford-Werke's main shareholder, Ford Deutschland Holding GmbH, holds about 99.85% of the company's shares. Of 7.2 million shares, only around 11,000 are widely held.

The so-called squeeze out, which will be voted on at Ford-Werke's annual general meeting July 12 , was made possible by a change in German law Jan. 1, 2002 . By law, majority shareholders with a stake of at least 95% may seek to buy out minority shareholders.