Shopping centre owner Hammerson has rejected an increased takeover bid by French rival 碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别.
碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别, which owns malls in 57 cities and 16 countries, raised its bid to 635p for each Hammerson share representing a 3.25% increase on the company鈥檚 previous offer.
The amount represents a 22% premium on the company鈥檚 current share price on Wednesday.
The new bid values the company at a little over 拢5bn (鈧�5.7bn) 鈥� up from the previous valuation of 拢4.88bn.
Hammerson, which has interests in 22 major shopping centres across Europe, noted that the increased bid only represented 鈥渁 marginal increase to 碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别鈥檚 unsolicited proposal of 615 pence made鈥� last month, which the board voted 鈥渦nanimously鈥� to reject.
David Tyler, chairman of Hammerson, said that the board had carefully considered the revised proposal. However, 鈥渁t 635p, it is only a 3% increase on the previous proposal and continues very significantly to undervalue the company鈥�, he added.
In a note, analyst Exane BNPP said it was surprised that the new offer came in 鈥渁t such an underwhelming level鈥e had previously assumed that a second approach would be pitched at closer to 650p.鈥�
Another analyst at Stifel added that Hammerson鈥檚 advice to shareholders to sit tight was unsurprising.
The move by 碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别, which has a property portfolio valued at almost 鈧�23bn at the end of December 2016, comes in the face of attempts by Hammerson to finalise a 拢3.4bn tie-up with Intu Properties, which would have created the UK鈥檚 largest real estate company.
Hammerson, which has a 拢11bn property portfolio, said it would delay the Intu deal until the final shape of 碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别鈥檚 offer emerges.
碍濒茅辫颈别谤谤别 declined to comment on the revised offer. The company now has until 16 April to finalise the details of its offer.
