Wincanton backs away from making bid for TDG
Two months after setting the sat-nav for a takeover of rival TDG, Britain's second-biggest trucking firm, Wincanton, today slammed on the brakes and went into reverse.
Wincanton, had said it was on the road to a £229 million offer for TDG. Citing "operational overlap and complementary sector and geographic coverage", it said it would be prepared to offer 290p a share for TDG including its proposed 8.75p dividend.
Last month, however, Wincanton warned it would only go ahead if a due diligence investigation of TDG's books found "attractive opportunities to generate significant profit improvement through costdriven synergies and operational efficiencies".
That it obviously did not find, for today Wincanton put out a brusque statement to the Stock Exchange saying: "Wincanton has concluded it is not in the best interests of Wincanton shareholders to proceed with an offer."
A deal had been regarded as a logical extension of consolidation in the UK and European logistics industry which has seen Christian Salvesen fall to French raiders and Exel take over Tibbett & Britten before itself falling to Deutsche Post.
TDG is now left with an offer of 275p a share, including the divi, from 22% shareholder Laxey Partners, the activist investment group. Laxey had no immediate comment.
