Hedin Group’s Pendragon ‘put-up or shut-up’ takeover deadline extended

Hedin Group’s ‘put-up or shut-up’ deadline for a takeover offer for Pendragon PLC has been extended to December 9.

The Swedish car retail group now has until 5pm on that date to either to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Pendragon or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, a statement issued via the London Stock Exchange has revealed.

It said that the extension – from a previous deadline of today (November 21) – was designed to allow Hedin Group to finalise its necessary due diligence, which is now “substantially complete”.

But a report published in The Telegraph newspaper has also suggested that the 29p per share offer could yet be scuppered by an approach by Constellation Automotive.

It said that sources in the City had suggested a rival bid could be made by the BCA, cinch and WeBuyAnyCar owners which acquired AM100’s Marshall Motor Group earlier this year.

Hedin Group – already Pendragon’s largest shareholder after owner Anders Hedin upped its stake earlier this year – had initially blocked any rival bids after tabling its initial offer for Pendragon back in September, but later said it would consider a third-part offer “not less than 35 pence per Pendragon share”.

Its change of stance came after a Pendragon statement appeared to create doubt about the future of the DMS provider Pinewood Technologies business as part of the car retail PLC.

The latest developments in the Pendragon takeover saga come as AM took an in-depth look at the M&A environment in the UK car retail sector in the November edition of AM Magazine.

It also comes more than two years after merger with fellow AM100 car retail group Lookers hit the buffers.