(Adds investor reaction)
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The controlling shareholders of
the Daily Mail publisher, the Rothermere family, have increased
the cash component of their offer to buy out other shareholders
to 270 pence per share, up 5.9% on their original bid.
The Rothermeres agreed a deal to take Daily Mail and General
Trust (DMGT) private last month after the sale of the group's
insurance business, Risk Management Solutions, and a listing of
online car seller Cazoo, which it partly owned.
The increased offer is final and will not be increased, the
family said on Thursday, adding it had lowered the threshold for
acceptances to 50%. The Rothermeres and their associates control
about 30% of the A shares and all ordinary shares of DMGT.
However, major shareholder Majedie Asset Management said the
revised offer still fell short of its expectations.
"It is our opinion that this revised offer announced today
represents a significant discount to our appraisal value of the
residual DMGT businesses," Majedie said in a statement.
Majedie said it owns 4.5% of the company, which would make
it the fifth-biggest investor, according to Refinitiv data.
Shareholders last month were offered 255 pence in cash plus
a special dividend of 568 pence and 0.5749 Cazoo shares for each
DMGT share.
The special dividend and a 2021 proposed final dividend are
unchanged in the increased offer.
Shareholders have until Dec. 16 to accept.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle and Simon Jessop
Editing by Keith Weir and Mark Potter)
