Takeover approach sends shopping centre owner Intu’s shares through the roof
INTU’S shares rocketed by as much as a third after plans emerged for a possible takeover of the troubled shopping centre operator.
John Whittaker, Intu’s deputy chairman, was revealed on Thursday even- ing to be looking at a bid for the company in a consortium with US private equity giant Brookfield and Saudi Arabia’s Olayan.
Mr Whittaker, a billionaire property investor, already owns 27pc of Intu through his company the Peel Group, which has had a hand in major Northern infrastructure projects including Mediacityuk and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Intu’s shares soared as much as 37pc in early trade yesterday before settling around 189p, up 27pc. That left the company with a market value of about £2.5bn, still some way below the aborted £3.4bn takeover bid mounted by rival Hammerson, owner of Birmingham’s Bullring, earlier in the year.
News of the potential deal comes after Intu’s shares slumped to their lowest level in 20 years last month.
Analysts at Peel Hunt said taking Intu private would make sense “in some respects”, giving it more flexibility to deal with its challenges, including a £4.7bn debt pile, “outside the public glare”.