Lewis bid will flush out more M&B offers

As Peach Report has reported, M&B has already rejected a £3bn takeover bid from Lewis, who has a week left until a deadline for a firm bid set by the Takeover Panel. But FT columnist and Sky city editor Mark Kleinman says shareholders at Greene King are encouraging it to make a counterbid for M&B, and claims the operator earlier this year “tabled a proposal for a nil-premium merger of equals valuing M&B at about 360p a share.”

That approach was conditional on Lewis’ Piedmont vehicle relinquishing its two seats on the board of M&, and would also have given Greene King the right to install its chairman and chief executive at the top of the new company.

The coming weeks will see some more interesting action around M&B. Kleinman adds, with its valuation likely to fall somewhere between the two measures so far. “While the board of M&B rejected Piedmont’s offer last month of 230p per share, it is unlikely to take a bid of anything like the level proposed by Greene King to win the day.”

For the full story, see Lewis sets sail as rivals eye M&B bid (registration required).