Aevum bid turns frosty with suitor accused of hostility From: The Australian August 14, 2010 12:00AM
THE frosty relationship between property giant Stockland and takeover target Aevum has worsened.
The chairman of the retirement village operator, Graham Lenzner, has accused its suitor of an "aggressive and hostile" approach.
Stockland has offered $266 million, or $1.50 a share, in a bid rejected by the Aevum board as substantially below net tangible asset backing of $1.95.
Chief executive Matthew Quinn initially spoke of goodwill between the parties, but he said this week that Aevum had rejected Stockland's attempts to set up a "constructive dialogue".
This was after Stockland privately delivered an ultimatum late last month on a Friday -- either agree to due diligence over the weekend and support the $266m offer by Tuesday, or face a hostile bid on Monday, August 2.
Stockland lobbed its hostile bid, as promised.
The company maintained this week that the offer represented "certainty of value at a significant premium to the market value of Aevum shares" before the bid was unveiled.
But Mr Lenzner yesterday condemned the bidder's tactics.
"Stockland's aggressive and hostile approach has been disappointing, and I would say ill-conceived," Mr Lenzner said.
"However, at the end of the day, that is not really our issue.
"Our sole focus is shareholder value, and Stockland's offer is highly opportunistic and substantially undervalues the company, and that is why it was immediately rejected."
