Liontrust Asset Management is expected to announce next Tuesday that its offer to acquire Zurich-listed investment manager GAM Holding has been unsuccessful. Preliminary figures indicate that Liontrust has not reached the minimum acceptance level required to proceed with the acquisition.
Based on preliminary data, Liontrust has received acceptances for more than 53.25 million GAM shares, representing 33.45% of the offer. Chief Executive John Ions expressed disappointment at not winning the support of the majority of GAM’s shareholders and thanked those who did back their offer.
The company anticipates exceptional costs related to the offer to be no more than £11 million ($14 million). Despite this setback, Liontrust has stated that its dividend policy remains unchanged, with a target payout of at least 72 pence per share for the year ending March 31.
Liontrust initially announced a public exchange offer in May, offering 0.0589 shares for each GAM share owned. However, on July 18, NewGAMe and Bruellan launched a competing offer to buy 28 million GAM shares at CHF0.55 (63 US cents) per share, representing a 30% premium to GAM’s previous closing price of CHF0.42.
NewGAMe is a company controlled by a subsidiary of French billionaire Xavier Niel’s holding company, while Bruellan is an independent wealth manager.
