Offer deadline extended once more for Intu takeover talks

Property group Intu said today that the offer period for a consortium seeking its £2.9bn acquisition has been extended once more.

On October 4, the consortium of Peel Group, the Olayan Group and Brookfield Property Group, revealed it was in the early stages of considering a possible cash offer for Intu, which includes The Trafford Centre and Manchester Arndale in its property portfolio.

Talks have been continuing, and earlier this month Intu, with the agreement of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, extended the deadline for an offer to be made to November 15.

This was then extended to November 22.

Intu said today that it has engaged extensively with, and provided diligence materials to the consortium over the past four weeks.

It said in a statement to the Stock Exchange this morning: “The consortium has confirmed to intu that its legal, tax, accounting and commercial due diligence is now largely complete and that it has made substantial progress on the financing of the possible offer.

“The consortium has also confirmed that nothing has arisen from these due diligence workstreams which would lead it to alter the terms of their indicative proposal dated 17 October 2018, of 210.4 pence per share.

“The consortium was required, by not later than 5pm on 22 November 2018, to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the company in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code, or announce that it did not intend to make an offer.

“In response to a request from the consortium for an extension to the deadline referred to above in order to satisfy the pre-conditions, to enable continued discussions and provide the consortium sufficient time to complete the financing process, the independent committee requested that the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers to extend the deadline.

“Accordingly, an extension has been granted by the Panel and the consortium must, by no later than 5pm on 30 November 2018, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for intu or announce that it does not intend to make an offer.”

The property giant said a further announcement will be made “when appropriate”.

Earlier this year talks between Intu and property firm Hammerson over a £3.4bn takeover collapsed.