Â鶹ӳ»­

Colonial's majority shareholders, Luis Portillo and Nozar, said on Friday that they were still studying the takeover offer launched by the Dubai sovereign wealth fund, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), on Wednesday. 'Contrary to some media reports, shareholders have not yet taken any definite decision on the offer, given its complexity and the implications it has for the main shareholders, for Inmobiliaria Colonial, for the remaining holders and for its creditors', they said in a letter filed with the Spanish stock market regulator CNMV.

On Thursday Colonial's shareholders announced they have asked ICD to make changes to the EUR 3 bn takeover bid. The Spanish firm saw its value more than halved in just six months after it emerged that management of the debt-laden company bought derivatives of its shares, using the stock as guarantee.

The Dubai fund said it would pay EUR 1.85 a share to gain control of at least 50.1% of Colonial, mixed with debt worth EUR 2.25 a share, before bidding for the whole company in accordance with Spanish takeover regulations. The offer represented an 8.8% premium on Colonial share's closing price of EUR 1.70 on Tuesday.

Spanish newspaper Expansion reported on Friday that Colonial's four creditors, Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, Eurohypo and Calyon, have not accepted ICD's offer, which is conditional on a refinancing of Colonial's EUR 8.6 bn debt with the banks. The paper also said that two international investment funds would like to enter talks with Colonial if the ICD offer falls through. The paper said the funds are based in London and New York.

Colonial's shares dropped as much as 20% over the last two days after the ICD bid was unveiled.