James Beattie gets an unsolicited takeover bid |
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Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:05
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LONDON: British department store James Beattie has received an unsolicited takeover bid even as it is finalising a recommended offer from the House of Fraser, the store announced Monday. There are speculated news in the market that the bid, rivalling the Fraser offer, is from department store chain Debenhams.
Beatties and House of Fraser had agreed to a 69.4 million pound deal whereby the central London store will be taken over by House of Fraser boosting the latter's presence in the locality and adding value to its properties.
Beatties said in a statement, "For the avoidance of doubt, the board of Beatties continues to unanimously recommend shareholders to vote in favour of the (House of Fraser) proposal and the recommendation of the board of Beatties provided in the announcement on June 28 2005 is not affected by this further approach."
House of Fraser, under the agreed deal, will acquire among other assets the company's 12-storied building. The acquisition is part of the company chief executive John Coleman`s expansion and consolidation plan. The company had bought Edinburgh department store Jenners for 46 million pounds and it is planning to open new stores in Maidstone, Dublin and Croydon.
Debenhams is a delisted company after its 1.7 billion pound buy-out by venture capitalists CVC Capital, Texas Pacific and Merrill Lynch. It has immediate plans to expand into India and China. It is intending to start 10 stores in India, with its franchise partner Planet Sports. The first one will be in New Delhi. It has 17 international stores operated as franchises and will be launching six more this year, including in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Cyprus.
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