Klépierre withdraws 5 billion pounds offer for Hammerson

London - European shopping centre owner Klépierre has announced that it does not intend to make a formal offer for Hammerson on Friday morning, clearing the way for the UK shopping mall giant to continue forward with its deal to take over rival Intu.

Klépierre noted that Jean-Marc Jestin, the Chairman of the Executive Board of Klépierre, met with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hammerson, David Tyler, on April 9 and made an increased offer of 5.04 billion pounds, worth 635 p per share for Hammerson.

However, in a stock exchange note Klépierre stated: “The Board of Hammerson did not provide any meaningful engagement with respect to the Increased Proposal and, after careful consideration, Klépierre has concluded that it does not intend to make an offer for Hammerson.”

The latest offer from Klépierre for Hammerson, an advance of its initial offer of 615p cash and shares worth 4.88 billion pounds, was a premium of 45 percent to Hammerson’s share price on March 16. But the board of Hammerson felt that Klépierre’s offer was “wholly inadequate.”

“The Board continues to believe that Klépierre's proposal, which the Board carefully considered following a meeting between David Tyler and Jean-Marc Jestin, very significantly undervalued Hammerson,” said Hammerson in a statement. Following the news, Hammerson is expected to continue to move ahead with its all-share take-over of rival Intu, a move which would create the largest property company in Britain.

"The Board is confident in the intrinsic value of Hammerson and its prospects,” added David Tyler, Chairman of Hammerson. “It is entirely focused on delivering value for shareholders in the shorter and longer term."

Photo: Bullring, Birningham, owned by Hammerson. By Sunil060902 [CC BY-SA 3.0 ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL ( http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons