DTZ Names Australian Firm UGL As Preferred Bidder For Company

Property consultant DTZ Holdings PLC (DTZ.LN) said Tuesday that shareholders are likely to get "minimal" value for their shares as it selected Australian real-estate services group UGL Ltd. (UGL.AU) as preferred bidder for the company.

The heavily indebted company put itself up for sale last month after a takeover bid from majority shareholder Saint Georges Participations SAS fell through.

DTZ said the proposed takeover would create one of the world's largest real estate services businesses, with 225 offices in 45 countries.

"The valuation of DTZ derived from the UGL proposal, however, means that, given the level of debt within DTZ, there is minimal value, if any, that may be attributed to the ordinary shares of DTZ," the company said in a statement.

Saint Georges Participations, which holds a 56% stake in the company, had since May been in talks to buy the remainder of the company, in a deal which would have seen the Family-run French firm merge DTZ with the real estate arm of bank BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR). However, SGP withdrew its interest last month, with DTZ blaming the "external environment" amid euro-zone economic turmoil and concerns about its impact on French lenders.

-By Tommy Stubbington, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9268; [e-mail]