22nd Jun 2015 06:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - US financial services company Fidelity on Monday reaffirmed its intentions regarding its takeover bid for FTSE 250-listed telecommunications and IT services company Colt Group SA, insisting it will not raise the price that it offered on Friday.
Fidelity, which has bid to acquire the remainder of Colt via its FMR LLC and FIL Ltd businesses, said its offer price of 190 pence per share for Colt, valuing the company at around GBP1.72 billion, is final. It said the offer will not be increased "under any circumstances" and reiterated that Lightning Investors Ltd, which is owned by FMR and FIL, has received "irrevocable undertakings to accept or procure acceptance" from certain shareholders in Colt.
FMR already has a 62.43% shareholding in Colt. Fidelity had said Friday it had received irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer for 70.15 million shares, or around 7.8% of Colt's issued share capital, or 23.4% of Colt's share capital that is held by independent shareholders.
In addition Monday, Fidelity said it will not dispose of its holding in Colt to any third party prior to December 31, 2016, whether Colt goes private under its offer or remains a public company.
Fidelity entered the bid for Colt on Friday, sending shares in the company pushing higher due to the 21% premium the offer price represents. But independent directors in Colt said they would not recommend the bid, saying the "financial terms of the offer are not fair to the independent shareholders of Colt".
The offer price is at a 21% premium to Colt's closing price of 157 pence last Thursday before the offer was made. The stock closed Friday at 189.43p.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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