Monday 1 September 2014

3 normally makes a journalistic "trend" but in this case...

In journalism hacks can claim to have discovered a new trend if they find three similar case studies. So, this piece may be a bit premature but I thought it would be worthwhile pointing out nonetheless.

Len Blavatnik's attempt to buy sports rights company Perform for £700m is the second time in the space of a month that the UK has seen an entrepreneur try to take the company in which he has substantial shareholding off the stock market.

Remember, in mid-August Daisy Group received a £500m takeover approach from a consortium led by its chief executive Matthew Riley, who owns 23pc of the telecoms company.

Either both Blavatnik and Riley are both playing the same game - by attempting to take the company private they may lure out a trade counter bidder - or they both believe their respective companies are genuinely undervalued by the market.

And I suspect it won't be too long before we see another similar "take private" of a listed company by an entrepreneur. Time for the hedgies to start screening potential candidates then?

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