Re: debenhams takeover - what happens ?

There's a takeover offer for my debenhams shares, possibly a 2nd bidder but

> nothing official yet.
>
> I have to accept the 1st bid in time for 26 Aug. (post strikes allowing) >
> But like most people would want to keep options open for a higher one.... >
> If I accept the lower one, and a 2nd bidder wins do I get the higher price > anyway? >
> If I do nothing do I still get the (highest?) offered price - i.e. are they
> compulsorily purchased - or do i just end up with worthless paper?

There is no need to do anything yet. After the 26th August one of three things may happen.

1. The bid may be extended because they have not got sufficient acceptances, with a new end date.
2. The bid may be declared unconditional because they now have a majority holding.
3. The bid may lapse, and the offer is withdrawn.

Until (2) happens, you don't need to do anything. If this happens, then you can send off your acceptance of the bid. Alternatively, you can ignore it and remain a minority shareholder. If they subsequently get more than 95%? of the shares, they can acquire yours compulsorily. If they don't, then you can remain a minority shareholder, but as the shares will probably be delisted, there will only be one buyer.

If a second bid emerges, the original bid can be modified, and the offer price increased if the bidder wishes. A new timetable starts to roll, and the sequence begins again.

If any of the offers involve funny securities, like convertible bonds or loan notes, you always have the option of selling in the market, which you can always do as long as the shares are listed. If the market price is higher than the offer price plus commission it may be worth doing this anyway.

Yes. (although it happens that the last one I was involved in didn't, which I thought was quite amusing). I believe the cutoff for compulsory purchase is, in fact, 90%.

Sufficient for it to be a knockout blow, to prevent the possibility of an auction developing. I would've thought at least 10%.

Book value ? If the bidder has over 50% then they can de-list from the stock exchange (ie quit) and turn it back into a limited company. This means the only means of trading is to find someone to trade with (I've often felt that bulletin boards, could be good for this).

Debenhams forum here -

Thanks, I'm already set up with the fool boards, but for some reason there's no discussion going on there at all - perhaps it reflects a declining interest in the stock market in general ! And teer's not much discussion going on on other shares either...Any suggestions for a more popular forum?

a) summer hols. b) there doesn't appear to be much screamingly good value around atm

Sometimes company issues get discussed in more general forums like Paulypilots Pub, so try a general search of all boards, otherwise you could try the usual suspects - ADVFN, III, E*TRADE etc

Daytona

lol! - agreed - lots of idiots who can't separate emotion from analysis ime.

Daytona