Shopkeepers at the centre of a long-running battle for convenience store chain Londis were today being courted by a second £60m bidder.
The potential approach by two former directors at T&S Stores comes a month after Londis management agreed to back an offer from Budgens owner Musgrave.
Unlike the earlier bid, today’s proposal allows shopkeepers – who own the wholesaling and distribution business – to maintain majority ownership.
They will get the same £31,000 windfall but a proportion of the new offer will be in shares in order for retailers to own 60%.
The rest will be in the hands of Nordic bank Kaupthing and the management buy-in team.
Londis shareholders, who are due to vote on the Musgrave offer at the end of next month, have yet to receive an official approach from the team.
Geoff Purdy, who was chief buying and marketing director at T&S before its takeover by Tesco in 2002, believed his group’s proposal gave shopkeepers the chance to benefit from any future improvement in trading at Londis.
Purdy said: “Londis is a superb business which has so much potential to be unlocked. Our proposal gives shopkeepers the best of both worlds.
“They will not only receive good value for part of their share of the business but also, importantly, they will retain a majority stake in the business.”
The earlier approach from Musgrave was made after a review of the Londis operation by KPMG found that it needed a strategic partner to progress in the increasingly competitive convenience store sector.
Musgrave first sparked takeover interest in Londis six months ago when it made a £40m approach that, controversially, included a £20m windfall for four Londis executives.
The bid process was subsequently restarted with the directors later agreeing to a one-off payment of £2m.
References: EGi News 24/05/04
