"Loss for Vinci as UK airport operator TBI bid folds"

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

Loss for Vinci as TBI bid folds
By Alistair Osborne
United Kingdom - The Daily Telegraph


VINCI, the French construction group, was left holding paper losses of
£37.5m yesterday after ditching its 90p-a-share hostile bid for airports
operator TBI.

TBI shares dived 12.5 to a six-year low of 45p after Vinci, which had
acquired 14.9pc of the stock at 90p, confirmed that it would let its
£517m bid lapse. It said it had received just under 84pc acceptances by
Monday's first closing date, below the 90pc required for the offer to go
ahead.

Vinci added that it had "no current intention to dispose of any shares
in TBI", leading to speculation it could return at a lower price,
though, under takeover rules, the company would not be allowed to make a
hostile offer for a year. 

There was also speculation over the intentions of Dermot Desmond, the
Irish entrepreneur who owns London City Airport, after it emerged that
Crossbill Ltd, in which he has an interest, had increased its stake from
3.7pc to 5.08pc.

Failure to win enough acceptances meant Vinci was not required to
persuade the Takeover Panel to allow it to drop the bid because of a
"material adverse change" since the terrorist attacks in America. Keith
Brooks, TBI chief executive, said he believed such an attempt would have
failed, but denied that his board had been too slow to recommend the
offer.

Having initially urged shareholders to reject it, TBI waited until last
Thursday, nine days after the attacks, to change its mind. Mr Brooks
said: "I think we had a duty to do all the things we did as we explained
in our statement last Thursday. We had third parties to discuss things
with. We acted with responsibility and alacrity."

However, Ray Webster, chief executive of easyJet, TBI's biggest customer
at Luton airport, said: "Perhaps TBI left it too late. One wonders what
was going on between September 11 and last Thursday."

Mr Brooks said he realised he now had to prove TBI was worth much more
than the current share price. "Vinci is sitting on £30m losses. I'm
sitting on very good airport assets. My job is to demonstrate their
value."

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