Hedge fund’s hostile £1.5bn swoop on UK housebuilder

a Us hedge fund manager is attempting a hostile takeover of a housebuilder – claiming it would be better off in private hands.

san Francisco-based Inclusive Capital Partners has tabled an offer worth nearly £1.5bn for Countryside Partnerships.

The american group revealed two previous confidential approaches for Countryside had been rejected by the FTse250 company’s board.

The bid amounts to 295p per share, a 31pc premium on the builder’s last closing price before the offer was announced.

The latest offer sees Inclusive go over the heads of the board and straight to shareholders – declaring that Countryside investors deserved ‘the opportunity to decide on the merits of any offer’.

The hedge fund manager also believes it would be easier for the firm to implement a turnaround strategy ‘as a private company rather than as a public entity, where near-term profitability and consistent earnings results are expected by investors’. Inclusive founder Jeffrey Ubben added: ‘We believe Countryside is meeting a critical societal need.

‘But the group is best positioned to serve this role and to succeed as a private company.’

Inclusive is already Countryside’s third largest shareholder with a 9.2pc stake.

The housebuilder’s shares rocketed 18.6pc, or 44.4p, to 283p after the bid was revealed.

But shares are still worth nearly 40pc less than they were at the start of the year after a profit warning and the departure of chief executive Iain McPherson in January sent the stock tumbling.

and two months ago, Countryside admitted it had ‘failed to realise the benefits’ of its £135m acquisition of Leicesterbased affordable housing builder Westleigh in 2018.

AJ Bell investment director russ Mould said the bid showed Inclusive Capital ‘thought there was a bargain to be had’.