[JimXugle]

My knowledge on this is limited, and US-specific, but I'd imagine the situation in Europe is similar... In the US, publicly traded companies are subject to a lot of laws that private companies aren't subject to, most notably being required to make periodic public disclosures about finances and (to a more limited extent) business plans. Making false statements on these required disclosures is a crime, even if not intentional. The majority stakeholder might've done the math and realized that it's cheaper to buy out the other shareholders than it is to continue making those disclosures and risking criminal prosecution.

[justinclift]

In some countries, minority stake holders over a certain percentage (5% ?) from memory can be entitled to various measures as well. eg being able to check the company books / financials, and so on

[rurban]

it looks more to me that the key feature is the wording "long term" in their announcement.

if you plan long term strategic shifts, most shareholders will bail out earlier when the quarterly publications once doesn't look too good. which hurts the whole plan.

so if you need to invest long term, it's better to get rid of those short term investors, which can bring everything down. private you don't need to publish your results, that's why most German companies prefer to stay private. they think in 6 year plans, not 1/4th year plans