M&S: hopes Green will up bid

13 April 2012

THE City is betting on Philip Green coming back this week with a revised £9bn offer for retailer Marks & Spencer. Marks shares rose 7p to 366p on Friday in anticipation.

But the retailing tycoon has yet to decide whether he will go ahead. 'He's really not sure,' said one source. 'He doesn't see why the City is demanding he should pay more for the company simply because he knows what he is doing.'

Institutions have given his current £8bn-plus cash-and-shares offer the cold shoulder as they suspect he can raise Marks' value further. Green's success at turning around Bhs and Arcadia is, ironically, working against him.

He might instead return to the fray early next year, if Marks fails to recover sufficiently under new chief executive Stuart Rose. The latest news suggests that revaluing Marks' properties may boost net assets by as much as £2bn.

The executive dining room in the Baker Street headquarters needs a revolving door. Marketing director Alice Avis is the latest threatening to leave. 'She's considering her position and is likely to make a decision this week,' said a source.

Meanwhile, the 375p proposed bid for retailer WH Smith has hit a snag. Potential bidder Permira, the venture capital group, wants to pay off the pension fund deficit - £151m after tax - over several years. The trustees, nervous about debt-laden acquirers, want it paid quicker.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in