VT Group investors want Babcock to see books

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.



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.

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.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.