Business
Response to Tender Offer
Response to Tender Offer.
About this update from Lpa Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n LPA Group PLC\n09 November 2006\n\n\nResponse to Tender Offer\n9 November 2006\n\n\nLPA Group Plc has today written to shareholders with regard to the Tender Offer.\n\n'Dear Shareholder,\n\nTHE BOARD, WHICH HAS BEEN ADVISED BY TEATHER & GREENWOOD, UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS\nTHAT YOU REJECT THE TENDER OFFER\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn my letter to Shareholders of 31 October 2006, I advised you that on Thursday\n26 October 2006 the Board received notice of the Tender Offer from Andrew\nPerloff for up to 3,095,968 Ordinary Shares at 25 pence per Ordinary Share. If\nthe Tender Offer is accepted by the maximum number of Shareholders, Andrew\nPerloff will in aggregate control 29.9 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares, the\nmaximum shareholding allowable under the City Code without making an offer for\nthe whole of the issued share capital of the Company.\n\nThe Board believes that the Tender Offer is an opportunistic attempt to acquire\na large shareholding in the Company at too low a price. The Directors believe\nthe Tender Offer substantially undervalues the Group's net assets as well as its\ntrading prospects.\n\nNet assets\n\nShareholders should be aware that in the interim statement published on 22 June\n2006, the Group's unaudited balance sheet as at 31 March 2006 showed net assets\nof £6.02 million, equating to 55.2 pence per Ordinary Share in issue at that\ndate (1).\n\nThe Group's net assets were made up of tangible assets (£2.74 million, equating\nto 25.2 pence per Ordinary Share), goodwill (£1.28 million, equating to 11.7\npence per Ordinary Share) and a pension fund surplus (£2.00 million, equating to\n18.3 pence per Ordinary Share).\n\nProperty valuation\n\nThe Board has commissioned an independent valuation of the Group's freehold\nproperties as at 30 September 2006 which shows an increase in net book value, on\nan existing use basis, of £1.05 million, equivalent to an additional 9.6 pence\nper Ordinary Share. This valuation will be incorporated into the Group's balance\nsheet as at 30 September 2006 (2).\n\nThis independent valuation does not include any potential uplift arising from\nthe redevelopment of the Saffron Walden site for residential use. The Directors'\nbelieve this uplift could be substantial. The Board intends to maximise this\nvalue over the next three years by continuing to migrate current activities away...