Co-founders frustrated over Computacenter offer

The independent directors of UK IT hardware firm Computacenter have rejected a takeover proposal from the company’s co-founders, it was reported today.

A group led by Peter Ogden and Philip Hume tabled a 255p-a-share offer in a meeting with Computacenter advisers on Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph said.

The approach, which values the company at £485m (€716m), was turned down by the independent committee made up of non-executive directors Nick Cosh and Cliff Preddy who are expected to push for a higher price.

The report of the proposed bid being rejected caused shares to fall by 2% to 257p – still higher than the bid value as investors looked for an improved offer.

The business, which provides equipment and IT services to companies and government departments, had been worth more than £1bn (€1.47bn) in the dotcom boom, but competition in the sector has hurt the operation since then.

In June, Computacenter’s shares plunged 23% as the firm followed a 10% first quarter sales drop with a warning that business remained just as tough.

Mr Ogden and Mr Hume, who set up the business in 1981 are leading a group of individuals already in control of 44% of the company.

Mr Ogden is still a non-executive director and the largest shareholder with 23.5% of the stock. Mr Hume holds 18.6%.

The Telegraph reported that chairman Ron Sandler, chief executive Mike Norris and finance director Tony Conophy made up the rest of the bid team.

Computacenter was unavailable for comment this morning.