Wolves share offer attacked by Pubmaster
Pubmaster has renewed its attack on Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W&DB) with only days to go until the end of its hostile takeover battle.
The pub group has tried to win over more shareholders by criticsing the terms of a share buyback announced by W&DB.
The brewer has told investors that it will pay them "not less than" 491p within two years to buy back 22 per cent of its shares.
It is part of W&DB's defence against a hostile bid, worth about £485m. Its shareholders have until 1pm on Monday August 13 to decide whether to accept it.
Pubmaster said its offer, which was raised to 513p a share last week, provided guaranteed cash now rather than W&DB's promise of £200m by 2003.
Chief executive John Sands (pictured) said: "W&DB's partial offer is at a lower level than our cash offer.
"Shareholders will not miss the point that a return of 491p per share on a fifth of their equity does not compare favourably to the Pubmaster cash offer of 513p available in full now.
"W&DB shareholders will be left with a rump of shares in an underperfoming and over-geared company.
"Why should W&DB Shareholders wait until 2003 for just a small portion of their own cash - which is conditional anyway on W&DB achieving its plans - when 513p is on the table now?"
Pubmaster's bid has been accepted by investors with stakes worth 16.9 per cent, including US fund manager Tweedy Browne, but another major City institution, Silchester International, which has a 11.3 per cent stake, has said it will back W&DB.
Related stories:
Wolves' largest shareholder rejects Pubmaster (August 3, 2001)
New attack on Wolves after shares mix-up (August 3, 2001)
CAMRA calls for OFT to stop Wolves takeover (July 31, 2001)
Plan to save Mansfield from Wolves axe (May 2, 2001)
