Hunter in the open over Allders plan

Published on Wednesday 8 January 2003 00:00

SCOTTISH entrepreneur Tom Hunter broke cover yesterday, announcing that he could make a rival offer for Allders as he breached a key 7.5 per cent stakeholding level in the department store chain.

Hunter’s vehicle, West Coast Capital, said it was reviewing its options on Allders, which is currently subject to an agreed 160p-per-share bid from a consortium led by its 26 per cent shareholder, the Minerva property group.

WCC said: "Following completion of this review, WCC may or may not make an offer for all of the issued and to be issued share capital of Allders."

It also added: "For the avoidance of doubt, WCC confirms that it has not entered into any agreements or arrangements with Minerva."

A spokesman for Hunter confirmed that the clarification statement was at the request of the City Takeover Panel. "We were more than happy to comply," he said.

WCC bought a further 800,000 shares yesterday, taking its stake in Allders up to 7.97 per cent. It is a key level because it stops Minerva wiping up the minority shareholdings should its bid for Allders be successful.

Minerva’s partners in its offer include investment bank Lehman Brothers and Terry Green, the former chief executive of Bhs and Debenhams department stores.

Hunter, meanwhile, has made an indicative offer of 85p-per-share for another famous department store chain, House of Fraser.

Many observers believe he would like to do a deal with Minerva whereby they would get Allders’ property assets, while Hunter would get the retailing business and consolidate it with HoF.

City analysts believe such a merger of the two chains could yield costsavings of 25 million. However it is believed Green is against this idea, wanting part-ownership of Allders’ retail business.

Green split the company with retailing entrepreneur Philip Green (no relation) last year when the latter made it clear he had no immediate plans to sell or float his Bhs chain. In a fast-moving retailing scene, the Bhs owner last autumn swooped to buy Arcadia, the clothing retailer whose brands include TopShop and Burton.

Allders, which runs 44 stores across Britain, said last month that like-for-like sales fell 3.3 per cent in the 11 weeks and five days to 19 December, compared with the same period of 2001.

HoF is due to put out a trading statement later this week.

Analysts said neither Allders or HoF is likely to recommend an offer dependent on the other one being successful as well.