EUROPE - Real estate company DTZ Holdings will not be taken over by BNP Paribas but instead receive a loan to continue trading, the company announced today.

Takeover talks with DTZ's major shareholder Saint Georges Participations (SGP) had been underway since May. 

In a note issued today, DTZ confirmed earlier rumours that "BNP Paribas was acting in concert with SGP in relation to SGP's possible offer for DTZ".
 
Under new mergers and acquisitions (M&A) regulations that came into effect in September following Kraft's protracted takeover bid for UK chocolate company Cadbury, a company has to table an offer or withdraw its bid 28 days after announcing its intentions.

Today, on the final day of the deadline, SGP said it had "decided not to proceed further with a possible offer" for DTZ, meaning that neither SGP nor BNP Paribas would be allowed to table another bid for six months.

Instead, SGP - together with the group's bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - will provide the ailing real estate company with a loan of £10m (€11m) to keep it in business.

It follows press reports last month that RBS had been considering its options as DTZ's main creditor.

Tim Melville-Ross, DTZ's chairman, noted that the deal failed because of the "external environment", but added that the "renewed support" by its largest shareholder and RBS would "provide comfort to clients and staff".

DTZ also noted that it was "no longer in an offer period".

Over the summer, both the chief executive, as well as DTZ's chief financial officer, left the company after completing a restructuring programme, as DTZ noted, but that some commentators saw as a "quite sudden move".
 

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