VT Group investors want Babcock to …
Sunday, February 28th, 2010 Uncategorized.
By Lawrie Holmes, Amy Wilson, Louise Armitstead
Published: 12:27AM GMT 28 Feb 2010
A source close to the situation said Invesco was still insisting on a 750p offer despite shareholders thought to include BlackRock, Artemis and Scottish Widows wanting the company to open the books to allow Babcock to identify the level of synergies available.
If Invesco, whose share of VT is worth around 12pc, added its weight to the shareholders calling for the company to open its books, worth 10-12pc, the company would almost certainly need to respond to the request.
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The Takeover Panel is set to issue Babcock with a “put up or shut up” deadline to make a firm offer for VT in the coming days.
The Panel is expected to set a deadline for the end of March and publish it either tomorrow or on Tuesday. VT asked for a date to be set more than a week ago, but the Panel’s deliberations are thought to have taken longer than usual because the offer is complicated by VT’s bid for support services company Mouchel, which itself has a deadline of March 8.
VT was seeking another March 8 deadline for a bid from Babcock, but the latter wanted six weeks to get a firm offer together, according to sources close to the situation.
Babcock’s move on VT has thrown its bid for Mouchel into disarray, with Paul Lester, VT’s chief executive, calling the proposed deal a “sideshow” while he confronts the Babcock approach.
Babcock has made three approaches for VT since the summer, and VT rejected a raised offer worth between 680p and 715p a share earlier this month. The offer values VT at up to £1.3bn but the company said it “significantly undervalues” the business.