THG’s shares jumped more than 40% on Monday after the ecommerce retailer revealed it had received a takeover bid from Apollo (Financial Times £).
The online retail tech company THG has joined a string of mid-sized British companies at risk of being swallowed by private equity, as its shares were sent soaring by a takeover approach from the US investor Apollo (The Guardian).
THG, the company formerly known as the Hut Group behind websites Lookfantastic and Myprotein, did not disclose the terms of the ‘highly preliminary and non-binding indicative proposal’ from Apollo (Mail).
The Manchester-based company added that it was not sure whether Apollo would make a firm offer but that a further announcement would be made “if and when appropriate” (The Times £).
In a separate article The Times (£) highlights “takeover fever” on the UK market as bids landed for THG, Network International and John Wood Group.
A business editorial in The Times (£) asks if Apollo can put shareholders and Matthew Moulding “out of their misery” with a takeover after a difficult time as a listed company.
The Lex column in the Financial Times (£) writes that past THG takeover talks have floundered but investors would cheer an offer for The Hut. The paper writes the group trades at an eye-popping discount to the sum of its parts but that chief executive, co-founder and largest shareholder Matthew Moulding has rebuffed offers well above the current market price before.
The business editorial in The Guardian argues that private equity’s dominance has gone too far and that the London Stock Exchange should try to create stepping stone between private ownership and quoted status.
The Mail thunders that “Britain up for sale - again: Predators are racing to buy UK assets on the cheap before the pound strengthens” in its editorial.
Price rises are accelerating at the biggest supermarkets, with bread and cheese soaring by up to 80% over the past year, research has found. Food inflation increased to 17.2% on average in the year to March, up from 16.5% in the year to February, the consumer group Which? said (The Times £).
Porridge oats topped the price increase ranking among a basket of British basics measured by the consumer group Which?, with prices up by an average of 35.5% followed by skimmed milk, which was up by 33.6%, and cheddar cheese, which rose by 28.3% (The Guardian).
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