Guinness Peat Group is unhappy with how Newbury racecourse is being run.
Guinness Peat Group is unhappy with how Newbury racecourse is being run.
KEY POINTS:
Guinness Peat Group has raised an offer by 4.5 per cent to buy Newbury Racecourse, which owns the southern England-based horseracing track of the same name.
GPG offered £11.50 ($29.57) a share, equivalent to about £34.6 million ($89 million), and extended the offer to February 5. A totalof 6.3 per cent of investors had accepted an initial £11 per share bid by Tuesday 's deadline, the London-based investment group said in a statement.
"This truly is the final offer," Simon Raggett, a spokesman for Guinness Peat at Strand Partners, said.
GPG New Zealand director Tony Gibbs said the company's holding currently totalled about 26 per cent.
"GPG's been there a long time," Gibbs said. "It's not particularly happy with the way the place is being run, that's why it's made the bid."
In a statement yesterday, Newbury directors advised shareholders to reject the offer, as it "significantly" undervalues the racecourse. Newbury spokeswoman Jessica Rouleau at Hudson Sandler declined to comment.
In November, GPG offered £11 per share for the racecourse. This offer was accepted by less than 1 per cent of shareholders as of January 21, Newbury said.
GPG has "no intention of selling" its stake in the event the bid fails, Raggett said.
In November, Blake Nixon, chairman of GPG Acquisitions unit, described plans for redeveloping the course and building homes on surrounding land as "ill-considered".
Newbury rose 40p, or 3.9 per cent, to £10.75 in London trading.
The stock has gained 14 per cent in the past 12 months.
