Banking group tipped to bid for housebuilder

British high-street banking group HBOS and Scottish tycoon Tom Hunter were today being tipped to make another attempt to land housebuilder Crest Nicholson.

The consortium, which had an offer worth £660m (€978.9m) spurned in November, has until 5pm on Friday to meet a “put up or shut up” bid deadline.

One report said the group was prepared to offer £680m (€1.008bn) in an attempt to persuade the Crest management team to open its books. So far Crest has refused to give the consortium access to detailed financial information.

Last year HBOS – Halifax Bank of Scotland – led the £1.1bn (€1.6bn) takeover of specialist retirement Housebuilder McCarthy & Stone and is believed to be involved in the £2bn (€2.97bn) auction process for Wilson Bowden.

Housebuilder have become attractive because of strong cash-flows and the continued shortage of new homes affecting the property market.

The Sunday Times said the HBOS consortium was looking at making a new offer of more than 600p, compared with 585p previously. Excitement over the possibility of a new bid for the group meant shares closed on Friday at 612.5p.

The consortium – operating through the bid vehicle Castle Bidco – already owns 27% of Crest, after it acquired the shares owned by property developer Heron International for £153m (€226.9m).

Heron, owned by the property tycoon Gerald Ronson, held the stake following a previous failed offer for Crest.

Crest’s land bank of more than 16,000 plots is attractive to buyers, as it provides the housebuilder with enough land for development during the next five years. It said recently that it achieved a 22% increase in housing completions during the year to the end of October.

Mr Hunter, who is worth an estimated £780 (€1.2bn), has worked with HBOS on several deals, including a recent takeover of Wyevale Garden Centres. Investmets are made through his firm West Coast Capital.