Bermudan investor believes its original offer has lapsed
Bermudan investment group Haverford (HBL) and Omega are arguing about whether HBL’s offer for the Lloyd’s insurer has lapsed.
Haverford announced this morning that it would not be extending its tender offer for 25% of Omega’s shares, which closed for tenders on Wednesday. Haverford therefore considers this offer to have lapsed, but Omega still believes the offer could be declared unconditional if all the conditions of the offer are fulfilled or waived in the next 21 days.
According to Haverford, the dispute centres on the applicability of certain terms in the offer and the interpretation of the minimum tender condition contained in the offer. HBL contends that the minimum tender condition has not been fulfilled.
The tender offer, under which HBL would have paid up to 83p a share for its 25% stake in Omega, was oversubscribed. HBL is seeking 60.2m shares, but as of the deadline yesterday had received tenders for 162.3m. Had the offer been declared unconditional, the strike price would have been the maximum 83p a share.
HBL indicated yesterday that it was considering not renewing its original offer because of worse-than-expected losses at Omega. It described the deterioration in performance as “significant and unexpected”. HBL has proposed an alternative, fixed-price offer of 74p a share, and continues to seek negotiation with Omega’s board over this new amount.
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