International Medical Devices Share Discussion Threads

[boadicea] 14/12/2003 21:59

The following was posted (RNS) at 7.30am on Friday 12th Dec:

"The Offer remains CONDITIONAL (my capitals), inter alia, on the receipt of competition clearance and regulatory approvals.

"The Offer was notified to the Directorate General for Competition at the
European Commission (the "Commission") under Council Regulation 4064/89 on 14 November 2003. The period for consideration of that notification will expire on
17 December 2003, by which date a decision is expected as to whether the
Commission considers the Offer to be compatible with the common market." (end quote)

Although AFX subsequently reported the offer UNconditional, it is my belief that this is NOT SO since no notification of clearance has been announced....
....unless someone can point out otherwise.

[jeffian] 13/12/2003 21:50

763795,
If you receive anything on 26/12, you've got a better postman than I have!

Regards, Ian

[763795] 13/12/2003 18:24

The other Kevin We should receive payement 14 days from Uncon: IE 26/12/03

[njp] 12/12/2003 14:34

TOK

Don't know why you didn't take it yonks ago when the deal was first announced. Was a fair price and unlikely to have been outbid. Sounds smug, I know, but I reinvested the proceeds in PRM and have made another 40%.

[boadicea] 12/12/2003 14:08

The following was posted (RNS) at 7.30am today:

"The Offer remains CONDITIONAL (my capitals), inter alia, on the receipt of competition clearance and regulatory approvals.

"The Offer was notified to the Directorate General for Competition at the
European Commission (the "Commission") under Council Regulation 4064/89 on 14 November 2003. The period for consideration of that notification will expire on
17 December 2003, by which date a decision is expected as to whether the
Commission considers the Offer to be compatible with the common market."

At 9.03am it was reported (AXF) that the offer had become UNconditional, implying that the DGCEC (the "Commission") had notified clearance of the takeover during that short 93 minute interval.
I hope this is correct but I am just a tad sceptical. Maybe the clearance is a foregone conclusion, but personally I don't trust a single thing the Euro-commission outfit can stick their nose into.

[the other kevin] 12/12/2003 10:21

taylora - 90.01pc acceptance announced today and, as boadicea pointed out, the offer now goes unconditional. But like you, I wonder when we will get our money.

[boadicea] 09/12/2003 08:49

Note that acceptances stand at 88.6%, short of the 90% needed for compulsory acquisition of remainder. Hence, I assume, offer extended.

[taylora] 04/12/2003 14:01

Can anyone advise timescales for receiving cheques after accepting the offer and posting acceptance document and shares certificate?

[annef] 01/11/2003 10:06

Thanks NJP, Jeff., and OneForTheMoney, very informative answers and a lot to digest over the weekend. Any ideas what shares now to watch?

[one for the money] 31/10/2003 22:18

Agreed: I have sold because there are opportunities to make that money work better elsewhere in the market at the moment.

Cheers
john

[njp] 31/10/2003 22:09

annef

jeffian's given a comprehensive answer. As to nominee holdings, you should get a letter from the nominee telling you about the offer and appropriate instructions as to what you have to do. If you don't hear from them in the next two or three days, give them a call. As jeffian says, your first decision will be whether or not to accept the offer.

As to the likelihood of the offer proceeding, I'd have thought the answer would be yes - it looks very much like a 'done deal'.

Personally, I have now sold as I wanted to re-invest the money now rather than later.

[jeffian] 31/10/2003 19:09

Anne,

If you hold the shares in your own name, you will shortly receive documents from the bidders (post permitting!) inviting you to accept the offer and send back a completed form of acceptance with your share certificate. I don't know what happens if you hold via a nominee account - perhaps someone else will oblige. If enough people accept and the bid goes unconditional, you will receive 280p per share without any deduction of costs. The bid is being recommended by INT board and the bidders have around 27% acceptances already, so it looks like a 'done deal' and the market is reflecting this by pricing the shares close to, but not above, the offer price.

My own inclination in these cases (I hold INT) is not to accept initially and wait until the first closing date to see how many others accept. These things are usually decided by institutional shareholders anyway. By delaying you can see whether a higher bid comes out of the woodwork and, if not, you will get an opportunity to accept at any time once the bidders succeed and go 'unconditional'.

So why are people selling in the market? Well, firstly, there is the risk that the bid may not go ahead and the share price might fall back. Secondly, there is some delay in the process so if people can get the bid price in the market now they may prefer this to waiting until formal completion (in this case, I think they are talking about completion during December 2003) even though this will incur brokers' costs etc.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Ian

[annef] 31/10/2003 17:29

Can anyone tell me what happens next with our INT shares. (NJP normally obliges.) Lots of selling on the "Trades". What are the implications and what choices, if any, does one have? Do you sit and wait for a cheque for £2.80 a share minus broker's commission? Can't seem to get on to INT website. Looked at Cardinal's price, circa $59. Please help.

Anne

[boadicea] 30/10/2003 11:47

Thanks NJP -noted your details and will reply, so you can edit them out now if preferred.
Have already put my wife into DCM at around 360p so she is happy. I also got into SYN around 50p at same time. Further comment by e-mail soon but there may be delay as in chaos because we will move house after 36 years on Monday!
At least profit on INT will more than cover removal costs, fees etc.

[njp] 30/10/2003 10:29

denimag

TW was a total t*t if he advised selling INT at 140p! Obviously he didn't understand that the company had changed substantially since acquiring the manufacturing division which has continued to perform strongly. And, if he was any good at TA, he'd have advised getting back in at 130p - classic bottoming signal.


boadicea

Yes, I do like recovery situations - preferably when the turn-round actions can be seen to be already underway, as in CEL. Harder to find them now than 6 months ago - as Mark Slater (son of Jim) said at a recent Company Refs evening, most of the low hanging fruit has been picked already.

As for ideas, one hesitates to ramp but I do like PRM, AZM, DCM and DYS.

[denimag] 30/10/2003 09:52

superrod,
If my memory seves me well,didn't TW advise "sell" when INT was at 140p.
Unfortunately I did!
Still holding three of TW's tips.
NOP +
WRN -
DNX -
Best of luck!
denimag

[boadicea] 30/10/2003 00:54

I take your point, NJP.
Earlier this year an article in some mag or newspaper (I forget where) identified three health/pharm related stocks as good investments- they were CEL, INT and HTL and by a strange coincidence I was already in all of them.
The first two have now come good, leaving HTL. I am quite happy to take an unexpectedly early 280p for INT, though it will not necessarily be a long wait to find out if a counter bidder is interested.
What gives me some difficulty is finding the same potential in other stocks now compared to 6-18 months ago. I have avoided a number of ramped situations - eg Provalis - where the BB was seriously off-putting. Perhaps I have been spoilt by the quality of BBs like CEL and FRX!
I tend to look for stocks which have hit a rough patch or had a long period of struggle, showing positive net assets (ex goodwill), a cash-flow turn round if not yet a profit recovery and preferably a management shake-up. CEL was, of course, a classic example.
There are at least 3 threads which we appear to share, so I assume you may use similar criteria.
I am watching a few but I don't yet have the confidence for more than a modest dabble in them. So no great hurry to reinvest all the proceeds from INT which is all in either a PEP or ISA. This also precludes AIM stocks (such as PPR, I think).

Sorry if this digresses aomewhat from INT, but no doubt a number of readers will be wondering where to reinvest the spoils in due course.

[njp] 29/10/2003 21:10

Not sure, boadicea. Does seem a pretty fair price, though, when you consider how the share price has performed over the past year. I guess the factors you have to balance here are the chance of a rival bid and the likely premium versus the returns you could get from selling and investing elsewhere. If I can see chances of making another 50% to 100% within 12 months on another stock - which I can - it strikes me as best to move.

[annef] 29/10/2003 21:08

Can anyone tell me what happens with our shares - never been in this position before.

Anne

[boadicea] 29/10/2003 20:57

Held this for some time and averaged down to around 170 when it was in the 140-150 region resulting in this being one my largest holdings. No regrets now!
What are the chances of this becoming an auction? Any obvious contenders?
I have a feeling that maybe there's more juice in this lemon yet. Current $/£ exchange rate does not favour a US takeover.

[njp] 29/10/2003 19:22

Ladron

Well done! Unfortunately, I closed my s/b a couple of weeks back when it signs of stagnating :( Still, a nice profit on the shares.

[ladron] 29/10/2003 18:55

Nice one NJP ! Bought into this one on your recommendation at 160p nice profit! Muchas Gracias .....Ladron

[annef] 29/10/2003 18:25

NJP

Yes, checked it,thanks.

Anne