A multi-millionaire who tried to buy Liverpool FC could net £90m if a takeover approach to the De Vere hotels group succeeds.
Steve Morgan owns 13.28% of De Vere which revealed today that it had received its second bid approach in three months.
Confirmation of the approach sent shares in De Vere up by 8% to value the owner of 19 hotels around the UK and the Greens health and fitness clubs at around £684m.
Although the company kept the identity of the potential bidder secret, a report in the Daily Mail said private equity firm Blackstone had made an indicative bid worth 800p a share.
If an offer at that level was accepted by the De Vere board then it would net Mr Morgan around £89.6m for his 11.1m shares.
De Vere said today: “Following recent press speculation, the board of De Vere Group confirms that it has received a preliminary approach which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.
“A further announcement will be made in due course.” Analysts believe Blackstone was behind an approach to De Vere in December and was willing to pay 750p a share back then.
But the talks collapsed when De Vere took the view that the proposal undervalued the business and its prospects.
Among the hotels run by De Vere are the Cavendish in central London, the Grand in Brighton and Cameron House on the banks of Loch Lomond.
It also owns a string of Village leisure clubs.
Last year, De Vere raised £186m from the sale and subsequent manage-back of The Belfry in Warwickshire which has hosted the Ryder Cup golf tournament between teams from Europe and the United States in recent years.
The company has stated that it would have no hesitation in disposing of more assets in future because rising property prices have pushed up the book value of its hotels by more than £100m.
De Vere, which made pre-tax profits of £59m last year on turnover of £312m, told investors last month that it was managing to offset rising energy bills and business rates with higher sales.
Like-for-like sales rose 3.3% in the 18 weeks to January 29, although the company said trading at its health and fitness clubs was challenging.
References: EGi News 23/03/06
