If you hear cheering in the City today it will be the sound of investment bankers rejoicing at what looks set to be the first successful private equity bid for a FTSE 100 company. Regardless of whether they’re in on the Alliance Boots bid, they all want to see it go through to encourage others.
A successful take-private of Boots will not necessarily encourage others – not all FTSE 100 companies have an executive director able and willing to throw in 15 per cent of the shares behind a bid and not all have as well-funded a pension scheme – but it should help.
It is a big pay-day at . The directors are selling £210m-worth of shares (founder John Duffield is almost halving his stake). I think they have to sell some in order to get the free float up ahead of moving from Aim to the main list.
They are also paying themselves and other shareholders a huge dividend, the net effect of which for Duffield is a cheque of nearly £160m. And well-deserved it is, too.
No deal at .
This seemed likely to be the case when Paul Thompson declared he was off earlier this month and predicted as much. Still, the is off 5 per cent today.
Keep an eye on .
It is having an which runs from 9 this morning to 5pm. It can’t be going very well: the are down more than 4 per cent already. So far, the highlights have included news of a tie-up with Asda similar to Tesco’s very successful one with O2 and an admission by the UK boss that they have struggled here and had to sacrifice margins to grow.
There has been more talk about making mobile internet a reality and Vittorio Colao, the new deputy CEO and European head, kept his remarks nice and dull. Which is probably just how the press team will have wanted it after all the talk that he was being brought in to succeed Arun Sarin. The Q A session just after 4pm may yield more.
Also, will intervene in TPG’s ? You have to think it would like to but much may depend on which operator TPG has teamed up with. BA’s 10 per cent stake puts it in a reasonably good position.
Rumour of the day: Neil Hume on our markets desk is hearing that Adecco may be looking at . And has not fallen back after its spectacular yesterday, despite no statement still from the company.
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