Continental mulls s/holder meeting to fend off bid

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German car parts maker Continental (CONG.DE) is considering holding an extraordinary shareholder meeting to fend off a hostile takeover bid from bearings maker Schaeffler, German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

An extraordinary shareholder meeting would give the Continental management more time to put together a counter offer to the bid, as it would extend the deadline within which shareholders can accept the offer, the paper said, without saying where it obtained the information.

Last week, a Continental supervisory board meeting authorized management to explore defense measures against the 11.3 billion euro ($17.65 billion) bid from family-owned bearings maker Schaeffler.

One person familiar with the matter said those measures included a possible capital increase or striking a deal with a white knight.

Continental was not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Peter Dinkloh and Christiaan Hetzner; editing by Sue Thomas)