A major investor in Spire Healthcare PLC (LON:SPI) has confirmed its opposition to a £1.4bn takeover offer by Australian firm Ramsay Health Care on the grounds that the price tag continues to undervalue the FTSE 250 firm.
According to a Times report, Toscafund Asset Management, which owns a 5.4% stake in the private hospital operator, said Ramsay, which increased its offer yesterday to 250p per share on Monday from 240p previously, “continues to undervalue Spire substantially”.
READ: Spire Healthcare takeover looks far from done deal as Fidelity rejects Ramsay offer
Toscafund, alongside Spire’s largest institutional investor Fidelity International which owns 8.7% of the firm, initially voiced opposition to the board-recommended 240p offer, which they said was too low given they expected to company to recover strongly once pandemic restrictions were eased and elective surgery demand bounced back.
Ramsay’s bid is also facing opposition from advisory firm Glass Lewis, which over the weekend urged shareholders to vote against the takeover and said the board of Spire had failed to present any analysis to justify its decision to recommend the deal.
Despite Ramsay raising its offer price yesterday, shares in Spire were down 0.9% at 238.4p in early deals on Tuesday, suggesting that the sweetened deal may not have been enough to convince enough investors to back the deal.