Hammerson withdraws from its offer for Intu – On 6 December 2017, Hammerson (HMSO) announced an all-share offer for Intu Properties (INTU). HMSO has decided to with draw from the offer.
HMSO had itself been subject to a take over bid from Klépierre, a French real estate investment trust and Europe’s second-biggest publicly traded mall operator, which it rejected as devaluing the company.
At the outset, HMSO firmly believed in the strategic rationale of combining INTU’s portfolio with its own, under the leadership of their management team, and the opportunity it provided for value creation in the medium to long term. However, the deterioration in the outlook for retail among investors has led to weakness in HMSO’s share price. As a result, the board of HMSO has informed INTU of its withdrawal. HMSO will focus on its own portfolio.
INTU has also made a statement to the market. it noted that HMSO issued a positive trading update on 5 April 2018. INTU also issued a trading update on 17 April 2018 which underlined its strong trading performance. In its statement to the market dated 18th April 2018, INTU stated that it therefore regards as unsatisfactory the explanations given by HMSO for its withdrawal of its recommendation of the intu transaction, “a transaction which intu has been pursuing in good faith since its announcement on 6 December 2017”.
INTU stress that it is entirely confident of its commercial future and prospects. The trading update issued yesterday underlined the key strengths of its business.
HMSO / INTU : Hammerson withdraws from its offer for Intu