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(Sharecast News) - Harworth reiterated its firm rejection of Peel Holdings' increased takeover offer, arguing the revised terms continued to undervalue the business and its longterm prospects.
Peel lifted its cash bid from 172.5p to 177.5p per share earlier in the week and subsequently triggered a mandatory offer after its stake, together with concert parties, rose to 30%.
Harworth's board said it had reviewed the higher offer with its advisers and remained "unanimous and unequivocal" in its view that the proposal significantly undervalued the group. It urged shareholders who have not accepted the offer to take no action, and those who have already done so to withdraw their acceptances. The board also advised investors not to sell shares to Peel.
The FTSE 250-listed company said the revised price represented a discount of more than 17% to its EPRA NDV of 214.8p per share and failed to reflect embedded value across its portfolio, including its hyperscale datacentre pipeline and industrial and logistics opportunities. It added that the offer also did not take account of its costsaving programme, which was expected to deliver at least £7.4m of annualised savings by the end of 2028.
Harworth highlighted ongoing progress in executing its strategy, including a targeted exchange of a conditional contract in the fourth quarter and completion of its sale of a fortyacre strategic land site in St Helens to Tritax Big Box at book value. The group said £1.3m of cost savings had already been realised through headcount reductions, with the majority of planned savings expected by the end of 2027.
The firm stated Peel's bid sought to take advantage of a disconnect between its share price and underlying asset value, and that the bidder stood to benefit from stamp duty savings of around £30.7m by acquiring the company via a takeover rather than through direct property transactions.
The directors, advised by Barclays and Peel Hunt, said they did not consider the revised offer fair or reasonable and concluded it was not in shareholders' best interests.
As of 1000 BST, Harworth shares were up 1.23% at 180.60p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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