LONDON (Alliance News) - RIT Capital Partners PLC on Tuesday said it will not make a takeover offer for rival investment trust Alliance Trust PLC, a week after it had been revealed the pair were holding talks.
A week ago, RIT Capital had said more "analysis and discussion" was required to determine whether a combination with Alliance Trust would be in the best interests of its shareholders.
The talks between the two had been reported by the Financial Times over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. The paper said RIT, the FTSE 250 investment trust chaired by Jacob Rothschild, had approached Alliance Trust about a tie-up which would create a company with a market capitalisation of more than GBP5.0 billion.
On Tuesday, however, RIT said that "following careful analysis and constructive discussions" with Alliance Trust, RIT has concluded it would not be in the best interests of its shareholders to make an offer for Alliance Trust.
Alliance Trust noted RIT's statement just after midday on Tuesday. It said it is in the process of implementing a series of changes to boost shareholder value and has made good progress on these already, including cutting costs, narrowing the discount to net asset value and allowing for the creation of an independent board of directors.
It added it would continue to suspend share buybacks until its review is completed.
RIT shares were up 0.6% to 1,614.00 pence, following the announcement, while Alliance Trust shares were down 1.1% to 511.10p.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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Alliance Trust (ATST)
RIT Capital Partners (RCP)