Rothermeres up offer to take Daily Mail publisher private

Published On : 12/02/2021

LONDON (Reuters) -The controlling shareholders of the Daily Mail publisher, the Rothermere family, increased the cash component of its offer to buy out other shareholders to 270 pence per share, representing a 5.9% rise on its original bid, they said.

The Rothermeres agreed a deal to take Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) private last month after the sale of the group’s insurance business, Risk Management Solutions, and a listing of online car seller Cazoo, which it partly owned.

The increased offer was final and would not be increased, the family said on Thursday, adding that it had lowered the threshold for acceptances to 50%.

Shareholders last month were offered 255 pence in cash plus a special dividend of 568 pence and 0.5749 Cazoo shares for each DMGT share.

One large investor, Majedie Asset Management, said at the time that the offer was “substantially below” what it believed was a fair and reasonable valuation.

The special dividend and a 2021 proposed final dividend are unchanged in the increased offer.

Shareholders have until Dec. 16 to accept.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton)

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