Privately owned property company, the William Pears Group, is reported to be in talks to mount a bid for Grainger Trust.
The family-run company is thought to be in discussions with Regis and Merrill Lynch, whose unsolicited approach of 670p a share, valuing the company at £885m, was rejected by the listed residential housebuilder earlier this month.
The consortium is thought to be willing to submit a higher offer with analysts and brokers quoting a hiked target price of 750p-800p.
The Daily Telegraph reported Regis and Merrill Lynch have also held talks with a number of debt providers, in particular Barclays Capital and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
One of the UK’s largest private companies, William Pears was founded in 1952 and has grown from a Hampstead-based residential and office property empire to report net profits of £30.5m last year, tripling £11.7m reported the previous year.
In September 2005 the company paid LandSec £300m to take over its 50% stake in Telereal, a venture formed by the two in 2001 to manage BT’s property portfolio.
The group, which owns or manages 15,000 properties worth over £4bn, has moved further away from its traditional property business and recently bought 40 Megga Bingo clubs from Rank in a £211m sale and leaseback.
Shares in Grainger were up 16p to 666 this morning.
William Pears was unavailable to comment .
References: EGi News 18/10/06
