LONDON (Alliance News) - Industrial and commercial gas metering services provider Energy Assets Group PLC on Wednesday issued a trading update in response to a call earlier in the day from shareholders who said the takeover offer made for the group undervalued the business.
Energy Assets agreed to a 685.00 pence per share takeover offer from US infrastructure company Alinda Capital Partners in April, a 40% premium to the group's closing price the trading day prior to the bid being made. The deal values Energy Assets at GBP198.0 million.
Earlier on Wednesday, however, Oakcliff Capital Partners LP, SF Metropolis Valuefund, Investmentaktiengesellschaft fur langfristige Investoren TGV, Forest Manor NV and Bryan Lawrence, collectively holders of a 22.6% stake in Energy Assets, said the deal does not represent a true reflection of the fundamental value of the company.
The shareholders said they believe it is critical Energy Assets shareholders are given the opportunity to evaluate the deal based on more recent financial information. To that end, they called on Energy Assets to publish its results for the year to the end of March or, at least, a new trading update.
Energy Assets responded later in the day, issued a trading update for the year to the end of March and affirming the board's unanimous support for the Alinda takeover offer.
The company said total revenue in the year to the end of March grew 25% year-on-year to GBP45.3 million from GBP36.2 million. Recurring revenue grew 12% to GBP26.1 million from GBP23.3 million and siteworks revenue grew 49% to GBP19.2 million from GBP12.9m million.
The company said its owned and managed asset portfolio increased to around 450,000 by the end of March, from around 365,000 a year prior.
Energy Assets said the performance was in line with its expectations.
Energy Assets shares closed up 1.5% to 695.00p on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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