The entity that has bid €1.2 billion to acquire listed ferry operator Irish Continental Group has said it will not increase its offer for the company.
The move comes in the wake of a number of shareholders expressing their dissatisfaction with the terms of the deal, indicating that they believe the company to be undervalued by the offer.
The buyout is being led by ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell, who owns 21.7 per cent of the business, and senior executives David Ledwidge, Andrew Sheen and Declan Freeman, who hold a further 2 per cent of the stock.
The offer would see shareholders paid €8 per share, a 28 per cent premium to the closing price of ICG’s stock on July 24th, an hour and a half before the bid was announced.
RM Block
In a statement on Monday, Bluefin BidCo, which has lodged the offer, said it would not be raising its bid for ICG.
“BidCo notes the recent media coverage and open correspondence relating to the [ICG] acquisition. BidCo considers the financial terms of the acquisition to be very fair and therefore confirms today that the financial terms of the acquisition are final and will not be increased,” it said.
BidCo said it reserves the right to amend the terms of its offer in advance of the shareholder vote later this month.
“If ... any dividend and/or other distribution and/or other return of capital is announced, declared, made or paid or becomes payable in respect of the ICG shares, BidCo reserves the right to reduce the consideration” by the same amount per share, it said.
On Friday, Oxy Capital, which owns 1.4 per cent of ICG, came out against the proposed sale to management, claiming the bid undervalues the ferry business by as much as 39 per cent.
Oxy Capital claimed management was attempting to take ICG’s “uniquely valuable mix of infrastructure assets private at a 39 per cent discount ... and at a highly opportunistic time”.
Other shareholders, including Marathon Asset Management, which has a 4.1 per cent stake in ICG; 2.1 per cent shareholder Janus Henderson; and Irish businessman Nick Furlong’s Pageant Investments, which holds about 2 per cent of the stock, have also voiced their objections to the value of the deal.
Meanwhile, ISS, an influential shareholder advisory firm, recommended that investors back the management bid for ICG.
ISS said the offer provides an “attractive premium” and “immediate liquidity and certainty of value”.
ICG, which operates the Irish Ferries business, will publish its half-year results on Thursday while shareholders will vote on the offer at an extraordinary general meeting slated for August 28th.
