Countrywide, the UK's largest residential real estate broker, has postponed a shareholder meeting to approve the EUR 1.473 bn takeover bid by the private equity group 3i after it became clear that the number of shareholders voting against it was much higher than expected. Europe's biggest publicly traded buyout firm 3i asked for the delay in order to 'hold further consultations with Countrywid's significant shareholders', newspaper the Financial Times reported.
Countrywide, the UK's largest residential real estate broker, has postponed a shareholder meeting to approve the EUR 1.473 bn takeover bid by the private equity group 3i after it became clear that the number of shareholders voting against it was much higher than expected. Europe's biggest publicly traded buyout firm 3i asked for the delay in order to 'hold further consultations with Countrywid's significant shareholders', newspaper the Financial Times reported.
Some 62% of the votes submitted before today's meeting were in favour of the takeover, while 38% were against it, the newspaper said, but the low turnout (53%) may have exaggerated the votes against the bid. The proposal valued each Countrywide's share at 490p in cash plus 0.165 shares in Rightmove, the property website partly owned by the estate agent.
The bid by 3i, backed by Countrywide's executives led by the managing director Harry Hill, is the biggest that the London-based firm has made without other partners. Supporters of the offer have been granted two to three extra weeks to talk to Countrywide's shareholders and seek to persuade them that the offer takes place at a fair price.