The deadline for the Guoco Group's 150p per share takeover bid for the Rank Group passed on Friday with the Hong Kong-listed investment firm winning a 74.5 per cent stake in the casino company.
Crucially, this is 0.5 per cent short of the 75 per cent needed to de-list the UK leisure group’s shares on the London Stock Exchange.
The closing of the offer brings to an end the protracted takeover, which at one stage saw Rank’s chief executive Ian Burke resign from the board, only to be reinstated less than a week later.
Only a few weeks ago it looked a foregone conclusion that Guoco would acquire enough shares to de-list the company but with Burke’s reinstatement and the extension by 14 days of the original offer, the number of shareholders withdrawing from the process increased.
Although Guoco has on a number of occasions denied that it intended to de-list the shares, in its most recent recommendation Rank’s board called on investors to reject the offer and for those already committed to selling their shares to withdraw. On July 12, the number of withdrawals received from what were understood to be institutional shareholders saw Guoco’s holding in Rank slip to 71.53 per cent.
By 5pm on Friday, however, Guoco received acceptances from shareholders holding 52.37 per cent of Rank’s share capital and withdrawals representing 18.7 per cent.
For the time being at least, Rank remains a listed company.
