* Bolsters defences against hostile Axel Springer bid
* Voting rights would be capped at 15 percent
* To hold EGM on Jan. 20 for vote on move
(Adds detail, background)
PARIS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Online property ad company SeLoger.com bolstered its defences against a hostile takeover bid by German publisher Axel Springer, unveiling a move to limit the power of minority shareholders. The French group plans to ask shareholders at a Jan. 20 special meeting to set a 15 percent cap on voting rights for anyone owning up to half of the company, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The move "is in line with the supervisory board's stated objective to prevent any attempt at a creeping takeover of the company," SeLoger said. "Under no circumstances does it aim to prevent the success of any public tender offer that would be launched under terms and conditions considered as satisfactory by shareholders and accepted by them," the company added.
SeLoger has rejected a 34 euro-a-share offer from Axel Springer valuing the company at around 566 million euros as too low.
In September, shortly after it first unveiled plans to buy SeLoger, Springer bought 12.4 percent of the company at 34 euros a share from shareholders including management and supervisory board members.
Since then, Springer has won approval from the French regulatory authority for its takeover offer, but SeLoger has appealed. The offer was extended in mid-December to give time for the appeal court to rule on the case.
SeLoger added on Tuesday that the voting rights cap would not apply if any shareholder, acting alone or with others, came to own at least 50.01 percent of the company's share capital following a successful public takeover offer.
SeLoger, which was created in 1992, carries nearly 2 million online classified property ads and provides information on related services such as insurance.
Springer, the publisher of Europe's best-selling tabloid, Bild, is targeting SeLoger as it steps up its push to capture adverts migrating to the Internet.
Shares in SeLoger have traded above 34 euros since Springer's interest was revealed, rising as high as 38 euros. The stock closed at 34.82 euros on Tuesday.
Axel Springer declined to comment. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by David Cowell)