Auction Technology shares rise as FitzWalter increases takeover bid
FitzWalter Capital Ltd on Friday announced a fresh, increased takeover proposal for Auction Technology Group PLC.
Auction Technology shares climbed 9% to 351.50 pence late on Friday morning in London. The stock has lost 39% over the last 12 months.
Earlier this month, the London-based auction market operator said its board had unanimously rejected eleven unsolicited takeover proposals from FitzWalter, a private investment company. Auction Technology said the most recent proposal offered 360p per share.
On Friday, FitzWalter said it was considering making a new 400p per share offer for AGT, valuing the company at £491 million. FitzWalter said this was a premium of around 48% to ATG’s share price of 270p on January 2.
‘We value and respect the opinions of other shareholders,’ FitzWalter Partner Andrew Gray commented. ‘Our proposal would give shareholders certainty to realise a cash offer at an attractive premium, compared to trusting a board that has consistently failed to deliver shareholder value.
‘We urge all shareholders to compel the board to engage with FitzWalter in order to deliver a transaction.’
FitzWalter also criticised AGT’s ‘fundamental performance’ and ‘track record’, saying that core marketplace revenue growth, which made up 67% of revenue for the year ended September 30, has fallen below 1%.
It added that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decreased on-year by 4%, ‘representing the first decrease since ATG’s IPO in 2021, as a result of cost growth in excess of revenues’.
Fitzwalter said ATG shareholders should encourage the board to work ‘towards a deliverable transaction’, the alternative being to ‘risk further value destruction by the existing board’.
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