Tavistock has hit back at a potential takeover attempt from Jersey-based fund firm TEAM, claiming the £15.2m price tag it put on the business was “significantly undervalued”.
In a regulatory filing yesterday (March 22), TEAM stated it had made a confidential offer to Tavistock with a premium of 2.50 pence per ordinary share based on the share price at the time.
In response, Tavistock shunned the approach and denied TEAM access to due diligence materials.
Tavistock has since issued its own public response and taken issue with the manner of the offer.
It specifically claimed that TEAM omitted to mention the premium of its offer would be negated by the fact one TEAM share would be offered for every 45 Tavistock shares.
In addition, Tavistock has taken issue with the background of TEAM which only went public on 8 March.
Tavistock's statement read: “It should be noted that TEAM is a recently established public company that was admitted to trading on AIM less than one month ago, with a negligible track record of successfully acquiring and integrating businesses to create a larger group."
TEAM, which aspires to become an “internationally recognised” asset and wealth management group through consolidation, had used its own statement to invite input from shareholders.
In yesterday's filing, TEAM had stated: “The board of directors of TEAM believes that Tavistock shareholders deserve the opportunity to decide on the merits of any offer, and that if an approach is made in good faith, the Tavistock board should act in the interests of its shareholders by engaging with the potential offeror and not deny its shareholders this opportunity.”
This has since also been rebutted by Tavistock, which has advised shareholders to take no action based on its criticisms of the offer submitted.
TEAM has been contacted for comment.
Jon Yarker is a freelance reporter for FTAdviser
