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River & Mercantile Group PLC - London-based asset manager - Premier Miton Group PLC says it has decided against making a takeover offer for the asset management business of River & Mercantile. Back in November, Premier Miton, also a London-listed asset manager, had said it was potentially interested in making an offer, assuming River & Mercantile completed the sale of its Solutions business to Schroders PLC, which subsequently was approved. However, on Thursday, Premier Miton Chief Executive Mike O'Shea says: "We have concluded that there are insufficient commercial merits for our shareholders to make a formal proposal for the acquisition of RMG."
Premier Miton's decision leaves a clear path for AssetCo PLC, which is led by Aberdeen Asset Management co-founder Martin Gilbert. River & Mercantile says discussions with AssetCo continue, but there is no certainty an offer will be made.
"The board's focus is on completing the sale of Solutions to Schroders, implementing the planned return of GBP180 million to shareholders and developing RMG into a specialist asset manager," River & Mercantile says. "The board has committed to providing shareholders with a broad update on its post-sale strategic plan in the Spring."
Current RMG stock price: 302.00 pence, down 0.3% on Thursday
12-month change: up 30%
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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