Crest rejects Bellway takeover bids

Crest Nicholson has confirmed it has rejected two takeover bids from fellow housebuilder Bellway.

Responding to an announcement Bellway made late yesterday (June 13) confirming its approaches to Crest following media speculation, Crest concurred that on May 7, Bellway made what the smaller housebuilder called an “unsolicited” proposal of an all-share offer, with an implied value of 253p per Crest share.

Under the proposed £650 million deal made in May, Crest’s shareholders would have received 0.093 new ordinary shares in Bellway for each Crest share it owned and held around 17.1% of the combined business.

But Crest said its board decided that this offer “significantly undervalued Crest Nicholson and its future standalone prospects and was not in the best interests of Crest Nicholson’s shareholders”. It rejected the bid on May 14.

This followed Bellway’s earlier lower offer on April 25 – which Crest also deemed unsolicited - involving Crest’s shareholders receiving 0.089 new ordinary shares. Crest turned this down on May 2.

Bellway now has until July 11 to announce a "firm intention" of an offer or to confirm that it will not do this.

Yesterday, Bellway, Britan’s fourth largest housebuilder according to Housebuilder’s Housing Market …