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(Recasts lead with Restore rejection, adds shares, background)
July 22 (Reuters) - Office services provider Restore Plc
on Thursday rejected a take over offer of about 743
million pounds ($1.02 billion) from Marlowe Plc, after
the British company made public its offer following repeated
rebuffs from Restore.
Under the 530-pence-per-share proposal, Marlowe said 71
pence would be paid in cash for each share and the remainder
would be given as new Marlowe shares. Restore shareholders would
own roughly 49% of the combined group, it added.
Restore confirmed in a statement that it had rejected two
offers from Marlowe in the past few weeks. It said the first
offer of 515 pence apiece "significantly undervalued" Restore
and the second "did not represent any material improvement".
"The board remains highly confident in Restore's standalone
prospects," the company said in a statement, urging shareholders
not to take any action in relation to Marlowe's offer.
Marlowe is known to acquire businesses and develop them to
complement its operations. It bought Core Stream this week and
in June acquired CQC Compliance. Restore's document management
and relocation services would aid Marlowe's corporate units.
The second proposal Marlowe made to London-listed Restore
represents a premium of 26% to its closing price of 420 pence on
Wednesday.
Shares of Restore jumped about 15% in morning trading to 485
pence after Marlowe's update but were well short of the offer
price.
"Marlowe and Restore share the same corporate DNA and
channels to market, and we believe that bringing our businesses
together will create a leading business-critical services
group," Marlowe Chief Executive Officer Alex Dacre said.
($1 = 0.7285 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by
Uttaresh.V and Edmund Blair)
