Pamplona charges in after Brit proposal
Pamplona Capital Management has confirmed that it has bought 40,229,921 Chaucer shares today. "We have bought 7.4% of the company today and we are still discussion with the [Chaucer] board and are keen to put our proposal forward. We are just cautious and we can’t buy more than 10% as we haven’t got our FSA approval yet. You need approval to get over 10% and it hasn’t come through yet as it can take over three months," said Paul Thompson, partner of Pamplona Capital Management.
Thompson added that Pamplona was still keen on taking on a larger stake: "Our ultimate ambition is to get 29.9%, so we are just moving ahead really." Thompson said he expected FSA approval in a matter of weeks.
Pamplona is interested in taking on up to 29.9 per cent by means of a partial cash offer. The announcement comes after Brit confirmed that is has made a proposal to the Chaucer board of a possible offer of 0.23 new Brit ordinary shares for every existing Chaucer share. Chaucer said that if completed this would result in Chaucer shareholders owning approximately 29% of the enlarged business.
