Shares in St Modwen ended today’s trading session above a recommended offer from Blackstone for a second day running.
The company’s stock rose as high as 553p per share today (21 May) before closing at 550p.
St Modwen’s management team has recommended a takeover of the business by Blackstone at 542p.
That offer has already been criticised by JO Hambro Capital Management, one of St Modwen’s biggest shareholders, which has said it won’t support the bid and added that St Modwen is “an attractive and lower-risk stock market proposition for a number of years”.
Royal London Asset Management, another major shareholder in St Modwen, reduced its stake to about 7.6% from 8% today following the share price rise, according to a regulatory filing.
A takeover target’s shares rising above the level of an agreed deal can be a sign that buyers expect to see another bidder emerge to push the price up, or that they think the initial bidder will be forced to raise the offer because of existing shareholder resistance.
Two of the biggest REITs were among the FTSE 100’s most notable fallers during the day. British Land’s stock dropped by 3.3% to a month-low of 512.6p, while Landsec was down by 1.7% to 706.8p, also its lowest level in a month.
The day’s biggest real estate rise came from developer One Heritage Group, which jumped by 7.8% to 62p. The company said today that it has struck a construction finance facility for its Oscar House residential scheme in Manchester.
The FTSE 100 and 250 finished the session almost flat at 7,018 and 22,399 points respectively.
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