The US car giant behind a bid to buy two of the 海角视频’s biggest car dealerships (and partner with their owner over its dealer management technology) has upped its offer from £280m to £397m.
Two weeks ago Nottingham-based Pendragon said it planned to sell-off its Evans Halshaw and Stratstone dealerships and its CarStore business to Lithia Motors in the States for £250 million.
It also said it planned a partnership to roll out Pendragon’s dealer management software arm, called Pinewood, to Lithia’s 50 海角视频 sites and North American operations, which would bring in a further £30 million.
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Now it said Lithia Motors had significantly raised its offer following unsolicited bids for Pendragon from two other parties interested in acquiring the 海角视频 business.
Last week, multi-billion dollar Florida-based auto retailer AutoNation Inc threw its hat into the ring, offering 32p a share, which valued Pendragon at almost £450 million.
That matched a figure offered the previous week in a joint approach by PAG International – which owns the prestige Sytner chain – and Sweden’s Hedin Mobility Group.
The new Lithia Motors offer is equal to 35.4p a share – and was up £117 million on its initial offer.
As a result, Pendragon said an original dividend of around £240 million which would have been due to shareholders under the first offer, would now be almost 50 per cent higher.
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Shares in Pendragon Plc jumped 5 per cent this afternoon to 35p as a result.
The business said the revised terms of the offer “significantly increase the value and certainty delivered to Pendragon shareholders”.
It said that would include a better deal for the slimmed-down Pendragon, which would remain listed on the London Stock Exchange and change its name to Pinewood Technologies.
It said: “The board of directors of Pendragon continues to consider the revised transaction to be in the best interests of the shareholders as a whole and recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the resolutions.”
Last week Pendragon revealed underlying pre-tax profits for the first half of 2023 of £36.7 million – up from £33.5 million.
Like-for-like revenues for the group were up more than 15 per cent at £2.09 billion.