Musgrave favourite to buy Londis
A poll of shareholders in Londis, which was formally put up for sale last Friday, found that Musgrave would be their choice as a new owner.
A survey of the Londis shareholders, who also own the 2,000-plus shops, found that 34% of them would be in favour of Musgrave becoming their new owner, with 31% of them opting for Iceland and 29% the cash-and-carry group Nisa-Today.
The survey, published yesterday in The Grocer magazine, will be a boost for Cork-based Musgrave Group, which had announced an agreed offer for Londis last December.
That deal fell through when it emerged that half of the £40 million bid would go to four of the senior Londis directors.
After pressure from the shareholders, who would have only received £10,000 each, the deal was cancelled and consultants KMPG were called into to instigate the sale of the group. The issue over whether the directors will receive half of any takeover price has yet to be resolved and could be a stumbling block to any sale.
KPMG has now set the wheels in motion and invited a select group of companies to make a formal bid, including Musgrave. KPMG said it wants to have a preferred bidder in place by April.
"We will be setting up a data room where prospective purchasers can review information on all aspects of the Londis business from property through finance, to legal agreements," said Richard Krajewski of KPMG.
"As the data room may contain commercially sensitive information on Londis, KPMG has asked all parties to sign a confidentiality undertaking.
"This binds them to keep any information obtained confidential and stops them from directly approaching Londis retailers or employees, safeguarding the value of Londis throughout the process and beyond."
While Musgrave Group is now the favourite to snap up Londis, only 43% of shareholders believe the company should be sold at all.
Londis is Britain's second largest convenience store group with an annual turnover of £510m.
