CareTech Holdings (AIM:CTH) said it has received an improved takeover offer of 750p per share from the company’s co-founders, Haroon and Farouq Sheikh.
The £850mln cash bid from Sheikh Holdings is supported by investors speaking for a total of 50.1% of the social care services company’s shares, it said.
It is in line with last week’s offer from global asset management firm Dbay Advisors, which trumped the previous 725p-per-share and original 710p offers from the Sheikhs.
The CareTech board said it “would be minded to recommend the possible offer should an offer be made at that price”.
The board has been in discussions with Dbay and their advisers, it said last week, but there was “no certainty that an offer will be made”.
CareTech, which was founded in 1993, provides services for around 5,000 adults and children with special needs in 550 residential facilities and schools across the UK.