11th Jan 2017 08:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Dee Valley Group PLC on Wednesday said the court hearing to sanction its proposed takeover by larger UK water company Severn Trent PLC has been delayed.
Dee Valley, which owns Wrexham Water & Cheshire Waterworks, has been the object of a takeover fight between Severn Trent and investment company Ancala Fornia Ltd.
Dee Valley has recommended an GBP84.0 million takeover offer from Severn Trent and a court hearing to sanction the takeover was due to take place on Thursday.
On Wednesday, however, Dee Valley said it had come to its attention that a series of around 445 recent transfers of small holdings in voting ordinary shares have taken place. This could "distort" the outcome of the shareholder vote at the court meeting.
Dee Valley said its board considers it appropriate for the court to determine if the holders of the voting shares transferred should count for the purposes of voting on the scheme at the court meeting.
In order to provide time for the court to undertake this work, Dee Valley said the court hearing on the takeover will be pushed to January 18.
Shares in Dee Valley were down 0.1% at 1,811.00 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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Related Shares:
Severn Trent