LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Laundry services group Berendsen on Thursday dismissed a new £2.05bn bid by French rival Elis as "opportunistic".
Elis upped the ante in the morning by offering 440 pence in cash and 0.426 new Elis shares for each Berendsen share.

"The board believes Elis is making an opportunistic attempt to acquire Berendsen whilst it is implementing its capital investment programme, without reflecting the value upside inherent in this strategy. The board believes this value should accrue fully to Berendsen shareholders alone," Berendsen said in a statement.

After two rejected offers on April 28 and May 12, Elis said it had decided to appeal directly to Berendsen's shareholders.
"Elis is willing to move quickly and cooperatively to engage with Berendsen with a view to achieving a transaction for the benefit of Berendsen and Elis shareholders," it said in a statement.

However, Berendsen chairman Iain Ferguson said the new proposal "very significantly" undervalued his company, calling it "highly opportunistic" and failing to reflect the inherent value of the business.

"As an independent company, the entire value of delivery on Berendsen's strategy will accrue to our shareholders; under Elis's proposal that value upside will be materially diluted," he said.

"The proposed combination would result in substantial risk: it increases execution risk against the existing strategy and introduces material integration risk. Berendsen has a strong team to deliver against our strategy, so we strongly advise that shareholders take no action."

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