Gresham Hotel Group plc (“Gresham”)
On 22 December, 2003 Gresham announced that it had been in discussions with representatives of a consortium (“the Consortium”) regarding an approach. On 7 January, 2004 the Panel announced that except with the consent of the Panel the Consortium must by 5.00 p.m. on 16 January, 2004 either announce an offer for Gresham under Rule 2.5 of the Takeover Rules or announce that it will not proceed with an offer for Gresham. Following a request from the Consortium, which was supported by the Board of Gresham, the Panel agreed to extend the 16 January deadline until 5.00 p.m. today.
The Panel has been informed by the Board of Gresham and by representatives of the Consortium that discussions regarding the Consortium’s offer proposal are ongoing, however, the parties have not, as yet, agreed a basis for proceeding to the release of a Rule 2.5 announcement. The Consortium’s offer proposal is preconditional inter alia on the completion of a satisfactory due diligence exercise on the Gresham business and the parties anticipate that this will take a number of weeks to complete.
At the request of the parties the Panel has consented to a deadline of 5.00 p.m. on Friday, 6 February, 2004 by which (i) an announcement will be made setting out the basis (including the timeframe) for proceeding to the release of a Rule 2.5 announcement or, failing that, (ii) the Consortium will announce that it will not proceed with an offer for Gresham.
