UK buying cooperative Nisa-Today’s has rejected a takeover approach from Bibby Line Group, arguing that it would not have been in the best interests of its member-shareholders.
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The member-owned organisation said today (1 September) that it had rejected a second approach from Bibby, despite the fact that it represented a “significant improvement” in terms from the initial takeover bid.
“In the board’s view it was not in the best interests of the company’s members, who are its shareholders, and was therefore rejected,” a spokesperson told just-food.
“Feedback received from members since they were notified of the board’s decision to reject the first approach from Bibby Line Group demonstrated that they are strongly in favour of retaining the mutual business model and unique culture focussing on member benefits.”
In an attempt to win support for the move, Bibby had conceded to have minority member representation on the board, which would be rearranged to reflect the change in ownership. However, the board concluded that this suggestion was not “sufficient”.
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By GlobalDataThe company insisted that its current mutual structure and “low cost model” already works well to keep “delivered costs and prices low” and provide “significant member benefits”.
“The approach continued to represent a significant undervaluation of Nisa-Today’s with the majority of any payment being deferred and conditional on future performance,” the board concluded.
According to the board’s assessment, the headline offer of GBP133m (US$216m) “substantially overstated” the “real price” for the company, as over 40% of that value was from potential payments in the future. These, the board said, would be generated by members own trading.
Bibby Line has indicated that this was a final approach.
