Pyrrho Investment Ltd, a minority shareholder in MWB Business Exchange, said that it will reject an offer for the work station provider from MWB Group, because it “grossly undervalues” the business.
The company, which holds a stake of around 8% in MWB Business Exchange, said that the recommended acquisition by MWB Group for the approximately 28% of the outstanding shares in Business Exchange cannot succeed without its support.
Paul Cummins, Pyrrho's investment director, said: "MWB is holding a gun to the heads of Business Exchange's minority shareholders, and has presented us with a derisory offer, backed by the threat of a delisting if we don't comply. This is simply unacceptable behaviour so we have decided to block the offer. We now call on the Board to protect the rights of all shareholders in Business Exchange and undertake to maximise value for them."
Regus, the workspace rental company, said it will withdraw its rival £60m bid for MWB Business Exchange, if talks over the offer don’t start by today.
Last month, MWB Group, the operator of the Hotel du Vin and Malmaison hotel chains, announced that its offer for MWB Business Exchange, has been recommended, despite its sister company receiving a higher offer from Regus.
However, the workstations provider rejected its rival’s offer in favour of recommending MWB Group’s offer for the existing 28% stake in the company it does not already hold, which values Exchange’s total existing share capital at around £32.7m.
Regus said it was reaffirming the seriousness of its offer and that it was disappointed that both Business Exchange’s independent committee and the MWB board had refused to engage in discussions since this development.
Last month, the MWB Group reported a widening of pre-tax loss for the final six months of 2010, as it felt the impact of the adverse weather and a “more competitive pricing environment”.
The company is currently in discussions with a number of parties regarding the sale and leaseback or outright sale of a number of its hotel assets, as it looks to reduce its debt levels.
It is also in negotiations with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, over the refinancing of £279m of debt secured against its Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains.
