Sweetened takeover offer for bar and restaurant chain Loungers snubbed by shareholder
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A Loungers shareholder has dismissed a sweetened private equity takeover offer as ‘not good enough’. The board of the bar and restaurant chain, which owns Cosy Club, had given its backing to a 310p a share offer from US buyout firm Fortress valuing it at £338million.
After opposition from shareholders, Fortress yesterday raised the bid to 325p a share or £354million in a bid to win them over. But Judith MacKenzie, head of Downing Fund Managers, which owns a 1.56 per cent stake in Loungers, said Fortress was just ‘paying lip service’ to improving the bid.
She said: ‘It’s a paltry offer. They need to sharpen their pencils again. It is not good enough.’. MacKenzie said Downing would consider backing a bid of between 360p per share and 380p per share. ‘They are miles away,’ she added. Takeover: The board of Loungers, which owns Cosy Club (pictured), had given its backing to a 310p a share offer from US buyout firm Fortress valuing it at £338m.
