Joe Lewis, the billionaire owner of football club Tottenham Hotspur, suffered a setback today after Timeweave rejected his £50 million bid to acquire the horseracing broadcaster.
Timeweave, which holds licences with 34 courses to televise races in betting shops, said the offer of 22p a share “fails to reflect fully the value” of the company.
Bermuda-based Lewis currently holds 29.9% – the maximum a shareholder can own before triggering a takeover bid – of Timeweave through his Mayfair Capital investment vehicle and has been an investor in the Aim-listed company for more than five years. The broadcaster also has a sports consultancy, SportingWins, which manages corporate risk for businesses.
Timeweave’s directors said they “consider the offer could represent a loss of value for any shareholders that choose to accept it when compared to the alternative of Timeweave continuing its current activities and its strategic plan to take advantage of further investment opportunities”.
While they acknowledged the 22p-a-share offer represents a 12.8% premium to the closing price of 19.5p on September 5 – the day before Mayfair made its bid – this is the same average price over the previous 12 months.
Lewis walked away from a bid to acquire the pub group, Mitchells & Butlers, which owns All Bar One, Toby Carvery and Harvester, in October 2011.
Shares in Timeweave rose by 0.4p, or 1.7%, to 22.5p today.
