LONDON (Alliance News) - Belgium's TVH Group NV on Tuesday said it has made an increased cash offer for UK-listed equipment rental firm Lavendon Group PLC as the battle to buy the firm continues.
TVH has been fighting with France's Loxam to buy Lavendon, with the pair one-upping each other with incrementally higher takeover bids since November.
Last week, Loxam made a 260.00 pence per share offer for Lavendon, trumping the 251.00p offer Lavendon had made less than a week before.
On Tuesday, TVH said it has offered 261.00p a share for Lavendon, a penny a share more than the last bid made by Loxam. The new TVH bid values Lavendon at around GBP444.0 million and is an 88% premium to Lavendon's closing price on November 21, before the first bid for the firm was revealed.
TVH also said it has bought 10.0 million Lavendon shares at 261.00p apiece from Unicorn Asset Management Ltd. This gives TVH a 20% stake in Lavendon, or around 34.6 million shares.
Shares in Lavendon were up 1.0% to 266.75p on Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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