Colliers International UK is preparing for a rescue takeover by majority shareholder FirstService ahead of a new 3 April deadline.
Chief executive Tony Horrell has sent an e-mail to staff inviting around 25 employees to become representatives and consult with the company in relation to a prospective offer from the Canadian property giant.
It is understood that this is part of the legal requirements of a takeover in relation to Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations.
On Tuesday the struggling listed agent said FirstService is “continuing constructive discussions with the company’s key stakeholders with the firm intention of completing a transaction shortly”.
However, it said that the precise nature of the transaction “is yet to be determined and it may provide negligible, or no value for shareholders”.
It added that it would secure the future of the group’s operations, provide stability for employees and ensure uninterrupted services to all clients.
Speculation is continuing that the firm could be subject to a “pre-pack” administration, which was used when Australian property services giant UGL took over DTZ late last year.
Last week Estates Gazette revealed that the family owner of Colliers Austria, Georg Muzicant, had amassed an 11% stake in the company. He upped this to 12.15% on Friday 16 March.
This week’s announcement from Colliers also confirmed that the Takeover Panel had given 29.9% shareholder FirstService a further two weeks until 5pm on 3 April to table a bid or walk away from the agent.
This is the second extension given to the FirstService, which injected £9m into the business in 2009, since Colliers first confirmed it was in takeover talks on 24 January. At that date, its share price was 2p.
As Estates Gazette went to press, shares were hovering at 0.92p, giving the firm, which has £18m of debt maturing in September, a market capitalisation of £1.46m.
Colliers has made a loss for the past few years and in its latest results for the first half of 2011 it reported a pretax loss of £3.99m.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
