Consortium removes pre-condition on Gresham bid

Consortium removes pre-condition on Gresham bid

Gresham Hotel remains on the €1.22 mark. The company confirmed last Friday that it has received a revised approach from the un-named consortium that is attempting to buy it.

The revised approach remains at €1.35 but discards the 80% acceptance pre-condition that was seemingly stalling the bid. Because of this, The Irish Takeover Panel has agreed to extend its deadline for an agreement to be made until 5pm January 30, 2004.

McInerney Holdings saw its share price close up 7c to €5.30 after an upbeat trading statement this morning.

The development group said completion rates across its three major markets of Ireland, Britain and Spain were up on 2002 rates. Its Managing Director, Barry O'Connor said that all the indicators pointed to 2004 being a positive year for the firm.

CRH announced that it had appointed three new directors to its board. Its current MD of European materials, Declan Doyle, will join Jan Maarten de Jong, a director of Dutch company Cementbouw, which CRH acquired last year, and Terry Neill, a former senior partner in Accenture.

Analysts also reported that the performance of US company Home Depot reflected record home sales and improving consumer confidence there. CRH has significant business interests in the US. Its share price, however, was down 20c to €17.25

Galen Pharmaceuticals dipped 9c to €11.04, despite announcing today that it had won a three-year exclusivity deal for its Ovcon product. The new product is in the form of chewable tablets.