Musgrave ups British Londis bid

THE Musgrave Group has upped its bid for Londis in Britain by €30 million to €90m in an attempt to achieve its goal of becoming the biggest supplier to independent retail grocers in Ireland and Britain.

Musgrave were first out of the traps to secure a deal with Londis in Britain, which has no association with Londis in Ireland, when it secured management agreement for a €60m takeover bid for the company.

However, a revolt by Londis's shop owning shareholders, aggrieved that Londis management were to get €30m of the sale price, precipitated a bidding war which drove the price to €90m with Musgrave seeing off more that 20 rival bidders.