£2bn offer sends shares in hotel group soaring
Hotels group Millennium & Copthorne soared after the singaporean billionaire vying to take it over upped his offer.
Kwek leng Beng, the 77-yearold chairman of M&C who already owns 65.2pc of the company through investment vehicle City Developments limited, has offered £2bn to take outright control.
the offer, at 620p per share, is a 38.8pc premium to the closing price of 446.7p before an initial proposal was made in August.
Millennium & Copthorne – which owns seven sites in the capital, including the Chelsea Harbour Hotel and the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair – rose 6.1pc, or 35.5p, to 613.5p following the news.
CDl claimed the offer was final and that it had been recommended by M&C’s independent directors. It announced the bid just 75 minutes before it had to make a firm offer or walk away after its earlier proposal of 552.5p per share faced criticism from the hotel chain’s investors who argued that it undervalued the business and did not reflect the value of its assets.
Grant Kelley, chief executive of CDl, said that taking M&C private would ensure it is ‘ best placed’ to compete in the competitive marketplace.
It caps off a week of heavy takeover activity, which has seen Cineworld agree a deal with Us rival Regal, gambling company GVC launch a swoop on ladbrokes Coral, and Hammerson announce a tie-up with Intu.
the FTSE 100 finished up 1pc, or 73.21 points, at 7393.96.
the banking sector was boosted by clarity on Brexit, with Lloyds up 3.6pc, or 2.29p, to 66.8p, Barclays up 2.5pc, or 4.75p, to 196.4p and Royal Bank of Scotland up 2.1pc, or 5.9p, to 281p.
Also up was Dunelm, which was lifted after Deutsche Bank gave it a Christmas boost.
the German bank said it expects the homeware retailer to post a positive update next month as it benefits from the integration of online rival Woldstores, which it snapped up for £8.5m last year.
It upped its share price target for Dunelm to 685p from 640p – but maintained its ‘ hold’ rating following a challenging 12 months of trading. the stock grew by 4.8pc, or 33p, to 721p.
Among Deutsche’s top Christmas crackers was Boohoo, which soared after it said that recent share price weakness made it attractive again.
It gave the firm a ‘ buy’ rating, noting that it is trading at a discount to rivals Asos and German group Zalando.
It added that it expects Boohoo’s trendy sister-brand Pretty little thing to benefit from its recent collaboration with socialite Kourtney Kardashian while Nasty Gal is expected to contribute £10m to group sales. the comments sent shares up 4.2pc, or 7p, to 174.25p.
As well as Boohoo, the German bank’s other top picks included Primark owner Associated British
Foods (up 1pc, or 31p, to 2883p) and discount retailer B&M (up 0.9pc, or 3.5p, to 395.4p).
Boohoo won the online fashion stakes, beating out rival Asos, which Deutsche maintained at ‘ hold’. But Asos’s share price slipped after Morgan stanley downgraded it in a separate note to ‘ underweight’ from ‘ equal weight’ – claiming its recent investment into the business might not have as much impact as hoped.
the bank said while Asos’s shares have performed well, growth was partly driven by price cuts for international shoppers as a result of the weak pound, a reduction in delivery times, and adding free returns to key markets. shares fell 0.03pc, or 2p, to 6024p.