Goldshield management set to win takeover fight
DRUG supplier Goldshield’s independent directors have lent their weight to a £178m takeover bid by the company’s management after effectively saying that a rival bidder must massively increase its offer to win.
Since September, Goldshield has been the subject of a bidding war between its executive management and AIT, a consortium that includes the owners of Neopharm, and Goldshield’s former chief executive, Ajit Patel.
The firm’s independent directors had recommended an initial AIT bid but yesterday they effectively helped cement a 485p per share offer received from management made the previous day.
Under the terms of the original offer, the independent directors cannot switch their recommendation for five days after a higher bid has been received.
But they said they did not believe AIT was capable of taking over the company with the arrangement scheme it had originally proposed, under which it has to get at least 75 per cent of the shares.