Reuters: Private Equity: Bidders may pursue EM&F bid without reaching goal

Reuters: Private Equity Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Bidders may pursue EM&F bid without reaching goal May 7th 2012, 17:29 WARSAW | Mon May 7, 2012 1:29pm EDT WARSAW May 7 (Reuters) - Czech private equity group Penta Investments and Eastbridge fund said they may go ahead with a $134 million bid for Polish retailer Empik Media & Fashion (EM&F) even if they do not reach their minimum goal, after another investor started to raise its stake. Eastbridge, which already owns 60 percent of EM&F, and Penta were hoping to buy out the rest of the investors and wanted to go ahead with the purchase if they were able to gain an 80-percent holding. Such a stake would allow them to delist the retailer. "Based on our conversations with investors and observations of the market, we have reason to believe that a majority of investors has declared a willingness to sell, but one of the investors was buying shares," Eastbridge Chief Executive Maciej Dyjas told Reuters on Monday. Dyjas declined to name the investor, but sources close to the transaction told Reuters pension fund ING OFE was the buyer of Eastbridge shares. ING OFE, which at last count had a 6-percent stake, declined to comment. Eastbridge and Penta originally offered 9.85 zlotys per share for EM&F, but later raised the bid to 10.38 zlotys. The stock has risen 11 percent since the two launched the offer in March. It closed at 10.40 zlotys on Monday. EM&F operates about 750 stores in central and eastern Europe and opened Poland's first GAP outlet last year. Its holdings also include Poland's leading chain of toy stores, Smyk, as well as book and newspaper retailer Empik, and has recently been hit by weaker sales in clothes and cosmetics. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions