An institutional shareholder of Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE:DMGT) has accused Lord Rothermere of trying to take the newspaper publisher private for an unreasonably low price.
Majedie Asset Management said that the offer agreed by Jersey-registered Rothermere Continuation Ltd, the group's controlling shareholder, was was “substantially below what we believe is a fair and reasonable valuation”.
Yesterday the company announced that Rothermere and the non-conflicted DMGT directors had agreed a £850mln takeover price, with shareholders to receive 255p in cash, a special dividend of 568p, and 0.5749 Cazoo shares for each share they own.
Chris Field, fund manager at Majedie, which has a 4.6% stake in DMGT, said: “Our appraised valuation estimate of only the largest businesses within DMGT materially exceeds double the current offer price of 255p. We strongly urge shareholders not to accept the offer.”
Jonathan Harmsworth, the fourth Viscount Rothermere, is executive chairman of the company and owns a 36% economic interest in DMGT and 100% of the voting rights. His great-grandfather, Harold Sidney Harmsworth, the first Viscount Rothermere, founded the Daily Mail newspaper in 1896 and the DMGT holding company in 1922.
Other funds that are shareholders of the company include Lindsell Train with 13.6%, Artemis with 9.4% and JP Hambro and Schroders, either side of 4%.