City Developments hits minority resistance in offer for hotel arm

(Oct 30): It was clear almost as soon as City Developments unveiled plans to take Millennium & Copthorne Hotels private that it would face resistance. The big question now is whether to raise its offer price, or just walk away. Or, come up with a plan to unlock value at M&C that benefits its minority investors.

On Oct 9, before the London market opened, CDL announced a possible offer for the remaining shares in M&C that it does not already own for 552.5 pence a share, consisting of a cash payment of 545 pence and a special dividend of 7.5 pence. The offer price is 21.4% more than M&C’s closing price before the announcement, and valued the whole company at £1.8 billion ($3.2 billion).

In a joint statement on Oct 9, M&C’s independent directors said they considered the deal to be fair and reasonable, and recommended that investors accept the offer. London-listed M&C operates hotel brands like the Millennium, Grand Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate. CDL currently owns 62.5% of the company.

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