Crest Nicholson, the UK housebuilder that fought off a bid approach from Gerald Ronson last year, is back in play after announcing it had rejected an offer from Bank of Scotland Corporate and Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital.
The pair’s Castle Bidco vehicle made an offer of 585p a share, valuing Crest Nicholson at about £660m, after snapping up the stake of Gerald Ronson’s Heron Corporation.
Castle Bidco said it had accumulated around 27% of the company over the past two days, including the 23% stake of Heron.
References: Financial Times 11/11/06 page 16, Daily Telegraph 11/11/06 page 31, The Times Business 11/11/06 page 48, The Guardian 11/11/06 page 41
