Major shareholder lambasts AA takeover approach
The AA’s largest shareholder has criticised the firm’s approach as it enters into takeover talks, saying it had “jeopardised” its own leverage position by being downcast about its situation.
The roadside assistance firm said last week it has opened talks with two parties about a potential deal: Centerbridge Partners and TowerBrook Capital on one side, and Platinum and Warburg Pincus on the other.
Drew Dickson of Albert Bridge Capital, which owns a 12 per cent stake in the business, told the Sunday Telegraph he was “surprised” at the AA’s response to the approaches.
He said the company had “jeopardised negotiating leverage” by stressing its “dire circumstances” during the takeover talks.
Dickson called a reported 40p per share price for the firm “very opportunistic”, and argued “the stock is worth much more than where it trades to today”.
Despite jumping more than 40 per cent on reports of a takeover deal, AA shares remain just under 33p.
At the end of the last financial year the group had approximately £2.65bn of total net debt, with £913m scheduled to fall due for repayment within the next two years, making debt reduction a “key priority”.
Dickson told the newspaper that he wondered whether “the five-paragraph soliloquy about their purportedly dire circumstances… was intended to compel existing shareholders to acquiesce”.
“But we believe the AA is under no duress, is cash flow positive, and is wholly capable of refinancing its debt right now,” he added.
The AA declined to comment.