Retail group Sears has rejected a second takeover offer from retail entrepreneur Philip Green for £520m.
Sears first rejected Green’s bid for more than 300p a share, or £459m, then spurned him again when he offered 340p, he claimed.
He said Sears, owner of Miss Selfridge, Richards and Wallis, rejected the proposals because they were too conditional and were not in the best interests of shareholders.
But Green claimed the only conditions he had set were answers to limited questions about the company such as a progress report on its Freemans business and details on the value of its property assets.
He also asked for information on the group’s debts and required an estimated trading update for the year.
He said he was “disappointed” at the rejection and denied he had requested an unreasonable amount of information on the group.
His demands were justified by the group’s statement at its last interim results that it intended to sell its non-operating properties and return 55p a share to shareholders, he said.
“Denial of the access requested cannot possibly be in the best interest of Sears’ shareholders.”
Green, who is making his offers through his company called Medinbond, said he would review his options when Sears issues its Christmas trading figures.
Green is no stranger to takeover processes having bought and sold 21 retail businesses in the past 13 years.
Along with his other requests, he asked Sears for a progress report on the sale its credit card business Creation, which was put up for sale recently.
Sears responded by stressing again that Mr Green’s proposals remained conditional.
It said: “The board has unanimously concluded that it should reject the approach as it is not in a form that it considers to be in the best interest of shareholders.
“Furthermore the board believes that the true value of Sears is not reflected by the price indicated in Medinbond’s proposal.”
Sears shares are currently at around 266p compared with Green’s 340p offer.
Green made more than £40m by buying Olympus Sports from Sears and later selling the rebranded group on to JJB Sports.
Last week he confirmed that he had the backing of a group of private investors including Tom Hunter, who sold his Sports Division retail chain to JJB Sports for £290m in July.
EGi News 22/12/98
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