After rejecting Bellway’s £650m takeover bid, Crest Nicholson has revealed they also turned down an offer of an ‘all-share’ partnership from Avant
Under the proposed bid, Avant would merge into Crest Nicholson, with the shareholder ration 70:30 in Crest Nicholson’s favour.
Crest Nicholson would keep its Stock Exchange listing with New York hedge fund Elliott as its largest shareholder. Jeff Fairburn, former CEO of Persimmon Homes, would continue to lead Avant Homes.
Not a takeover, but a merger of Avant and Crest Nicholson
The house builder said it had “received unsolicited, preliminary, indicative proposals from Avant Homes regarding a possible all-share combination of Crest Nicholson and Avant.”
It added: “None of the proposals from Avant involved a possible takeover offer by Avant for Crest Nicholson.
“The most recent indicative proposal was an all-share acquisition by Crest Nicholson of Avant in consideration for the issue of Crest Nicholson shares to Avant shareholders, whilst retaining the listing of Crest Nicholson on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.”
Bellway have until 11 July to make another offer or withdraw
Crest Nicholson added: “it was not currently minded to engage in discussions regarding a potential transaction with Avant while in an offer period in relation to a possible all-share offer from Bellway.”
In a note, broker Investec said: “There appears to be more competition to acquire Crest. As we previously wrote, we would not be surprised to see a revised offer be forthcoming from Bellway. We see the logic for Avant Homes’ interest given that it would facilitate a public listing [but] there is room for Bellway to come back with a higher offer.”
A bidding war could ensure if Bellway return to the table
The previous Bellway bid would have left Crest Nicholson with 17% of the enlarged group’s share capital.
Crest Nicholson shareholders would have received 0.093 shares in Bellway for each share they hold, with an implied value of 253 pence per share(and a premium of roughly 18.8%).
