Mulberry Takeover Rumours (MUL)

Largest shareholder happy to raise new equity at £1. Second-largest indicatively offering £1.50 to purchase the company. Board stuck because it thinks it knows the largest shareholder (which clearly has a blocking vote in takeover terms) won't accept £1.50 and so the offer isn't "tenable". Isn't the obvious answer for the board to insist on a formal sale process to see what the company might be worth to a genuine third party? The problem would be how to prevent this simply being seen as a stalking horse process to work out how much one of the 2 interested shareholders would have to pay to buy the other out. Ideally you'd have both major shareholders agree in principle to sell to the highest bidder if a price can be agreed above a certain level, with the sale process run as close to arms length as can be managed reporting to an independent director - but is there anything in applicable regulations that can facilitate this sort of outcome?

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - British luxury brand Mulberry MUL.L on Tuesday rejected a second takeover proposal from Mike Ashley's Frasers Group FRAS.L, saying the possible offer is "untenable". Frasers had on Oct. 11 raised its proposal to 150 pence per Mulberry share, valuing the brand, best known for its handbags, at 111 million pounds ($144 million).

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