Axis-Shield shareholders spurn Alere’s takeover bid

SHAREHOLDERS owning just 0.94 per cent of the stock of Dundee-based medical testing kit maker Axis-Shield have accepted a takeover bid from US life sciences giant Alere as investors hold out for more cash.

Documents released yesterday showed the low take up of Alere’s 460p-a-share offer, which valued the takeover target at about £230 million. Massachusetts-based Alere, which has built up a 9.09 per cent holding by buying shares on the open market, had expected the take-up rate to be low at this stage.

The next deadline in the saga is 15 September, when Alere will again assess the takeup of its offer by investors. The US firm took its bid hostile last month after Axis-Shield’s board said it was “wholly inadequate”.

Julie Simmonds, an analyst at Collins Stewart, has said a take-over bid of up to 580p – valuing the firm at about £295m – would be “a more-reasonable value”.

Axis-Shield’s shares edged up 0.25p to 477.25p amid yesterday’s wider market sell off.