Arcus aims to bid for Forth
ARCUS Infrastructure Partners aims to announce a formal £744m takeover offer for FTSE 250-listed Forth Ports tomorrow, alongside the target’s full-year results, a source familiar with the company confirmed yesterday.
Arcus, which already owns a 22.8 per cent stake in Forth, is likely to keep its offer in line with the £16.30 per share indicative bid announced earlier this month after undertaking two weeks of due diligence.
The indicative offer included a 20p per share dividend, taking the total payment per share to £16.50.
Forth rejected a £14 per share takeover bid from a consortium led by Arcus last May before the due diligence stage.
Forth, which runs a string of ports in Scotland and owns 400 acres of land in Edinburgh, saw its shares close at £16.07 on Friday, valuing the firm at £733m.
ROSALIND HEDLEY-MILLER
COMMERZBANK
Commerzbank, which steered Forth Ports through takeover interest last year, is advising the company during the latest indicative bid from Arcus.
M&A vice chairman Rosalind Hedley-Miller leads the advisory team at Commerzbank. Hedley-Miller was with the bank’s predecessor Dresdner since 1979, and moved with the firm when it merged with Commerzbank in 2009.
The St Hugh’s College, Oxford graduate worked with Terra Firma during its 2007 acquisition of EMI, Irish real estate developer Green Property during a €1bn (£874m) move to take the firm private in 2002 and Somerfield when it was bought for £1.1bn by the Tchenguiz brothers, Barclays Capital and Apax Partners in 2005.
She also worked for the finance committee of Oxford University Press from 1995 to 2009, and currently sits on the board of trustees for the Rhodes Trust, the educational charity.
Investment bank Gleecher Shacklock also advise Forth Ports.