£2.3bn Aggreko takeover ‘in doubt’ after shareholder revolt
The multi-billion pound takeover of FTSE 250 firm Aggreko has been thrust into uncertainty tonight after the company’s biggest shareholder said it would vote against the deal.
Liontrust Asset Management, which owns 12 per cent of the energy provider, is set to oppose the deal, Sky News reported tonight.
The news comes just a month after Aggreko said that it was backing a £2.3bn buyout bid from private equity firms TDR Capital LLP and I Squared Capital.
At the time, the firm said that the 880p per share price represented a premium of about 39 per cent on its closing price on 4 February.
In order to complete the deal, TDR Capital LLP and I Squared Capital need 75 per cent of shareholders to back their bid.
The stage is set for a frantic couple of days of negotiations, with a deadline for investors to decide whether to back the deal set for Thursday.
When it backed the deal, Aggreko chairman Ken Hanna said the offer was set at an “attractive price in cash that fairly recognises Aggreko’s future prospects.”
It came after a challenging year, in which demand for the firm’s rental power equipment nosedived.
Aggreko’s annual profit was down by 50 per cent and nearly a quarter of its market value vanished.
Aggreko and Liontrust declined to comment.
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