Ottakars management team up the stakes
An increased offer for the business from the Ottakars management team last night raised their bid from 350p to 400p. They have secured some conditional recommendations from major shareholders, but these will lapse if a rival offer comes in at 420p or above.
It is reported that the independent directors have said that they were recommending this offer, but also said that they remained “in discussions with other parties”, including HMV.
Analysts at Numis Securities suggest that the MBO bid is probably about as high as they can go, but believe there is a strong chance of HMV or Borders weighing in with an offer at 420p. They consider that for HMV, increasing its exposure to the more stable book market would be a sensible strategic move and the fit between Ottakar’s and HMV’s Waterstones chain is very good, with little store overlap.
