ROW OVER £212m BID FOR FABERGE OWNER

FABERGE owner Gemfields says its major shareholder made a ‘derisory’ takeover offer that would harm other investors.

Private equity group Pallinghurst put in a shock £211.5m bid last month for the 52.9pc of the AIM-listed company it does not own. But Gemfields board members said it ‘clearly undervalues the company’.

Gemfields – which paid £110m for luxury jeweller Faberge in 2012 – mines rubies, diamonds and amethysts in Africa.

Pallinghurst, founded in 2007 to develop mining assets and listed in Johannesburg and Bermuda, wants to de-list Gemfields from AIM in a restructuring of Pallinghurst to ‘unlock value’ for its own shareholders.

It plans to offer 1.91 Pallinghurst shares for each Gemfields share, valued at 38.5p.

Board members say the offer has the potential to dilute Gemfields shareholders with ‘inferior assets’.