PNE and Petrus Advisers, which last month extracted a top-up for its Comdirect stake from Commerzbank, both declined to comment.
A Morgan Stanley-backed fund last year launched a 4.00-euro per share takeover bid for all of PNE and ended up owning a 39.80% stake after facing resistance from shareholders, most notably ENKRAFT Capital, that the offer was too low.
ENKRAFT and Active Ownership Capital jointly own more than 10% of PNE, whose shares were up 1.4% at 4.945 euros apiece on Wednesday, hitting their highest level since April 29, 2003 and giving it a market value of 379 million euros (£318.8 million).
Morgan Stanley had planned to delist PNE if it obtained more than half of the group's shares.
Bloomberg had reported on Feb. 11 that Petrus Advisers was buying a stake in PNE.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Michelle Martin)
