Crest Nicholson (CRST) and Bellway (BWY) on Tuesday both announced that the latter does not intend to make a firm offer for its fellow FTSE 250-listed housebuilder.
Newcastle-based Bellway made its first all-share takeover approach in late April, offering 0.089 shares per Crest Nicholson share. Surrey-based Crest Nicholson rejected this proposal in May, and later rejected a revised offer of 0.093 Bellway shares.
In July, Bellway submitted a revised proposal offering Crest Nicholson’s shareholders 0.099 shares in Bellway for each share they own, as well as a 4 pence per share dividend. The proposal at the time valued each Crest share at 273p.
Crest Nicholson shares dropped 16% to 221.00p on Tuesday afternoon in London. Shares in Bellway, however, rose 3.3% to 2,910.00p each.
On July 10, Crest Nicholson said it was minded to accept the revised bid proposal, which would see its shareholders owning 18% of the enlarged group’s share capital.
On Tuesday, however, Bellway confirmed that it did not intend to make a firm offer for Crest.
Bellway commented that it “remains confident that its robust balance sheet and operational strength, combined with the depth and quality of its land bank, will enable Bellway to deliver volume growth in the years ahead and support ongoing value creation for shareholders”.
Shortly afterwards, Crest noted that Bellway’s proposals were “unsolicited”, adding that it “remains confident in its standalone prospects, in particular given [the] conclusion of the review of provisions for completed development sites supported by external consultants, its highly attractive land portfolio and the new leadership of Martyn Clark.”
Chief executive officer Martyn Clark joined Crest in June, having previously spent nine years at Persimmon PLC, where he became chief commercial officer in 2022.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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