A housebuilder owned by the funding agency Elliott Advisors has tabled a secret takeover supply for Crest Nicholson, its London-listed rival.
Sky Information has learnt that Avant Properties, which is run by former Persimmon chief Jeff Fairburn, made an all-share proposal to the board of Crest final month.
The bid, which Metropolis sources mentioned had been rejected by Crest’s board within the final 10 days, would have seen Elliott turn out to be the largest shareholder within the mixed group, in keeping with insiders.
One mentioned the mix risked representing an unattractive prospect for some Crest Nicholson shareholders.
Avant’s curiosity comes weeks after Crest rejected a bid from Bellway, one other London-listed housebuilder, that may have valued the goal at about £665m.
Bellway now has a deadline set by the Takeover Panel to make a proper supply for Crest of subsequent Thursday.
It’s unclear if it intends to submit a revised supply.
“The board of Crest Nicholson evaluated the Revised Proposal with its financial advisers and concluded that it significantly undervalued Crest Nicholson and its future standalone prospects and was not in the best interests of Crest Nicholson’s shareholders,” it mentioned final month.
“The board therefore unanimously rejected the revised proposal on 14 May 2024.”
A potential bidding conflict for certainly one of Britain’s largest housebuilders would thrust an business that will likely be on the centre of the brand new Labour authorities’s coverage agenda again into the Metropolis highlight.
Labour pledged in its manifesto to construct 1.5 million properties throughout its first five-year time period.
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Persimmon is already considering a bid for Cala Group, which is owned by Authorized & Common, whereas Barratt and Redrow agreed a £2.5bn merger earlier this 12 months.
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On Friday morning, shares in Crest Nicholson have been up about 1.4% to 248p, giving the corporate a market capitalisation of £628m.
Avant is chaired by Mr Fairburn, who left Persimmon in 2018 amid a Metropolis outcry over his huge pay package deal.
Elliott engineered a deal to purchase Avant by means of Berkeley DeVeer.
HSBC and Financial institution of America are advising Avant on its curiosity in Crest, which is being suggested by Barclays and Jefferies.
Elliott and Crest each declined to remark.
