Nightclub brawl as £101m bars bid turns nasty

A takeover war has broken out between revolution bars, the owner of Slug and Lettuce pubs and a nightclub operator.

the battle to buy out revolution has pitted Pryzm nightclub owner Deltic against pub operator Stonegate, which first tabled a £101.5m takeover offer for revolution.

Deltic then tabled a rival bid but in a new twist, Deltic last night launched a scathing attack on revolution after being rebuffed.

the two firms which have been at loggerheads since the nightclub operator first made its unsolicited counter-approach in August.

Deltic had proposed an all-paper merger that would see revolution owning 65pc of the combined business and it taking the remaining 35pc. Yesterday morning revolution instead endorsed the 203p per share offer put forward by Stonegate, claiming Deltic’s proposal would not create significant value for shareholders.

the move angered Deltic, which issued a statement of its own, accusing the firm of failing to engage in talks.

Deltic, which owns 57 Pryzm nightclubs, said revolution had allowed pre-conceptions about its business to cloud its judgement when assessing its offer.

It added that revolution’s rejection was made ‘against a backdrop of hostility, negativity and illinformed commentary.’ Bob Brannan, chairman of Deltic, said: ‘Deltic is incredulous that keith edelman, the only board member of revolution who has had any contact with Deltic in respect of the merger proposals, and its advisers can, given feedback from revolution’s shareholders, continue to recommend Stonegate’s offer at a price below the current revolution share price.’

the pub group also returned with a revised offer for revolution, under which revolution shareholders will own 65pc of the revised group and ranimul – its holding company – would own 35pc.

the major revision also stated that a £22.3m loan of ranimul’s, which was intended to replace high coupon debt with third party debt at commercial rates, could be converted into additional shares in the company at a conversion price of not less than 203p.

Deltic said that this demonstrates its confidence in 203p as a minimum per share valuation of the group, the amount rival Stonegate has proposed to buy the firm for.

the firm has also managed to win the support of the biggest shareholder in revolution bars, Artemis Investment Management, which owns 15pc of the pub and withdrew its support for Stonegate’s takeover.