Recruiter’s takeover rejection hits stocks
SHARES in Michael Page International Plc, the United Kingdom’s second-biggest recruitment company, fell the most in eight months in London trading yesterday.
The dive came after Michael Page said it had rejected a 1.3-billion-pound (US$2.4 billion) takeover from Adecco SA and ended talks, Bloomberg News reported.
Michael Page fell as much as 8.4 percent, after turning down the Swiss firm’s offer of about 400 pence a share.
The proposal “materially undervalued” the company and the structure of the deal was “unattractive,” Michael Page said yesterday.
“People believe that the chance of an Adecco acquisition of Michael Page going through has diminished,” said Julian Cater, an analyst at Collins Stewart.
A takeover of Michael Page would have given Adecco a specialist recruiter with expanding operations in the Far East and central Europe.
Michael Page traded down 21.25 pence at 313.75 pence as of 11:46am yesterday. Adecco shares rose 0.1 percent to 50.7 Swiss francs (US$46.20) in Zurich trading yesterday.