THE board of Thus, the Glasgow telecommunications group, conceded it was disappointed with the offer it received from Cable & Wireless but holds little hope of an improved bid.
More than 150 shareholders attended yesterday's annual general meeting in Glasgow, with many expressing anger that Thus was not able to extract more than the 180p-a-share offer from its larger London-based rival.
A spokesman said the board of Th
us, which is headed by chief executive Bill Allan "are disappointed that they didn't secure a better offer, so there was no disagreement there".
C&W has said a deal to buy Thus would be bolt-on rather transformational. The first closing date for acceptances of the offer is 12 August.
The Thus spokesman said that while the firm was open to receiving a counter-bid, it was not expecting one.
"The truth is, if someone suddenly appeared over the horizon and said 'we think this business is worth a whole lot more and we want to progress an offer', they could put out a statement to that effect, and institutions, which generally accept at the last minute, could vote accordingly.
"But Cable & Wireless have already got 29 per cent of Thus (enough to prevent a counter-bid succeeding], so I think the market assumes, and everyone assumes, it's a done deal.
"We're not expecting any twists or turns now."
While Thus has not recommended the offer, as soon as C&W tabled a firm intention to make a bid it approached Thus's shareholders at 180p, securing 29.9 per cent, the most it was allowed to, within hours.
The full article contains 276 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
