Hostile bidder attacks G4S pay
THE owners of the Mailbox shopping and office development in Birmingham are pushing ahead with a share sale of the building on the IPSX property exchange.
The Mayfair- based exchange, which went live earlier this year counts former Trinity Mirror boss Sly Bailey among its directors and is backed by former Dragons’ Den star James Caan. It is hoping the £179 million flotation will ‘democratise’ the ownership of commercial property.
Richard Croft, executive chairman of Mailbox’s owner, M7 Real Estate – which plans to retain a significant stake after the flotation – says that 70 per cent of the leases are to office-based firms such as the BBC, whose fixed contracts mean his company pays an annual dividend worth the £1-ashare price.
It’s undoubtedly as much of a bet on town centres and the eventual return of office workers, as it is on Mailbox’s more glitzy attractions such as the boutique hotel Malmaison and Harvey Nichols.
Could the exchange – as investors such as Caan argue – one day provide an alternative to sinking your cash into buy-to-let properties?
ANORAKS at the ready for the l atest round of mud- slinging between outsourcer G4S and its Canadian r i val GardaWorld, which yesterday formally lodged its £1.90-a-share hostile bid.
G4S shareholders, of course, want a higher price. Garda isn’t budging, and is trying to get a deal through by Christmas, but faces competition from Allied Universal Security Services of the US, which expressed an interest too.
Garda points out that G4S’s board have collectively taken home £37 million since chief executive Ashley Almanza took charge in 2013, while the share price has gone nowhere.
Garda’s hard-nosed boss Stephan Cretier tells me: ‘While G4S shareholders and customers have suffered years of poor performance, remuneration is one area where G4S has delivered way above market expectations.’
G4S’s camp counters by saying its management has since 2013 resolved ‘significant, longstanding legacy issues’ and transf ormed t he company i nto a ‘focused, global security leader’.
This spat doesn’t look like its going to end quietly.