LONDON: U.K. housebuilder McCarthy & Stone Plc. has agreed to a 1-billion-pound take0ver offer by a consortium led by private equity groups Barclays Capital PIA and Permira Advisers LLP.
The deal provides for the shareholders to receive 10 pounds in cash for each share.
McCarthy & Stone, Britain’s largest builder of retirement homes, said the offer is at a premium of 37.7 per cent on the 726.2 pence average closing price of the share over the six months ended 1 June. As the company revealed that it had received offers, its shares flared up, reaching 942 pence at close Friday, giving the company a value of 960 million pounds.
A rival group headed by Bank of Scotland and including Aldersgate Investments Ltd and West Coast Capital said it had made a higher offer for the firm at 1,030 pence in cash and that it is making a due diligence.
There is a third bidder, multi-millionaire Vincent Tchenguiz, who has tabled an indicative offer for 1 billion pounds. He is backed by Deutsche Bank. However, it is subject to due diligence and is not yet fully financed.
Chairman of the company Keith Lovelock said compared with the other approaches, the offer from Barclays and Permira provides certainty for shareholders. The offer is subject to approval by shareholders.
When the takeover is completed, it will be the biggest acquisition in the housebuilding industry in the U.K. The company has built nearly 60 per cent of all retirement houses in the country.
McCarthy and Stone had reported a 22 per cent decline in fiscal first-half profit as it said raw material costs had gone up and the country’s property market had slowed.
The company had rejected a takeover attempt in 2003 made by the founder of the company, John McCarthy, who wanted to merge the company with his sons’ business operations.
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