BOYLESPORTS PLANS TAKEOVER OF RIVAL LADBROKES - Bookmaker Boylesports has challenged rival Ladbrokes Ireland’s restructuring in the High Court, arguing that the process is effectively designed to prevent a takeover of the business.
Ladbrokes Ireland is working its way through a rescue plan for the loss-making chain with a High Court-appointed examiner, Ken Fennell of Deloitte. It plans to close up to 60 of its 196 betting shops in the Republic and cut some 250 jobs. Boylesports intends to launch a bid for the entire company, reports the Irish Times. It says this will involve an eight-figure investment and result in fewer shop closures, the preservation of more jobs and a better deal for creditors, including landlords who face the loss of rent on their properties. On Tuesday the High Court gave Boylesports permission to submit motions challenging the examinership and to serve notice of its intentions to Ladbrokes Ireland, Mr Fennell and their legal teams. The matter is due back in court today. Boylesports signalled early in the examinership process that it was interested in bidding for the entire Ladbrokes chain in the Republic. Mr Fennell invited it to submit an initial expression of interest; it was due to make a final offer later this week. However, Boylesports says it has not been given sufficient access to the information it needs from Ladbrokes Ireland to formulate an offer. At the same time, it points out that one of the competing bids is the chain’s UK parent. On that basis, Boylesports maintains that the objective of examinership is to ensure the company remains under the ownership of Ladbrokes plc.
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IRISH FIGURES CONTRADICT ECB REPORT ON BANK LENDING TO SMALL FIRMS - A quarter of small and medium sized businesses in Ireland reported an increase in borrowing costs in the six months to the end of March, according to a survey from the European Central Bank (ECB). However, a separate study commissioned by the Department of Finance for the same period concluded that fewer loans were being approved with conditions attached, but the interest rates for approved credit fell, writes the Irish Independent. The ECB study said that between October and March, the income and debt situation of Euro zone businesses improved slightly on balance, compared with the previous six months. But developments across company size and countries remained considerably diverse. Wide divergences remain across Eurozone countries concerning problems faced by SMEs. Some 34% of the SMEs in Greece, 15% in Ireland and 15% in the Netherlands named access to finance as the most important problem, compared to only 7% in Germany and Austria. However in Ireland and other countries, it is becoming less of an issue. The largest percentages of SMEs reporting that they did not apply for a loan owing to sufficient internal funds were recorded in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Austria. The net percentage of SMEs reporting a decline in bank lending rates was most pronounced in Belgium, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Portugal. But by contrast, 25% of SMEs in Ireland, 20% in Greece, and 1% in Finland reported, on balance, an increase in bank lending rates.
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PERRIGO TO PURCHASE GSK BRANDS - Dublin-domiciled drug firm Perrigo is set to significantly strengthen its status as one of the world’s leading over-the-counter drugs makers by acquiring a selection of such brands from industry giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). New York-listed Perrigo shifted its residency to Ireland two years ago when it bought Dublin-based biotechnology firm Elan for nearly €7 billion. It is ranked as the leading maker of generic over-the-counter drugs in the US. The Irish Examiner says that although it manufactures here, it is unclear whether or not it plans to move manufacturing of the GSK products it intends to acquire to Ireland. Perrigo said yesterday that it intends to buy the portfolio of GSK products in an all-cash transaction, although it did not disclose the purchase price. The combined net sales of the portfolio reached around $110m (€99m) last year. It covers areas such as nicotine replacement therapy and cold and flu treatment. The products include leading nicotine replacement therapy NiQuitin and cold/flu treatment Coldrex in Europe and pain relief agent Panodil, as well as nasal decongestants Nasin and Nezeril in Sweden. The deal will also cover the European rights to Novartis’s legacy cold-sore management products, inherited as part of its recent asset swap deal with GSK, which are marketed under the names Vectatone, Fenlips, Fenivir, Pencivir, and Vectavir.
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FITBIT SEEKS TO RAISE $478m FROM FLOTATION - Fitbit and some of its shareholders hope to raise up to $478m in its initial public offering, giving the wearables maker additional fuel to race against rivals from Apple and Samsung to Jawbone and Xiaomi. In a key test of public-market investors’ appetites for new consumer device makers, the maker of fitness trackers set an initial pricing range of $14-$16 on Tuesday, after filing to go public last month. Fitbit intends to sell 22.4 million shares, raising up to $358m for general corporate purposes, at the top end of the range, while existing investors, including the company’s founders, will sell 7.5 million shares for up to $120m. The IPO could value Fitbit at more than $3 billion, putting it on par with Jawbone, one of its chief rivals in the market for fitness wearables, says the Financial Times. It raised $300m in debt from BlackRock about a month ago. But the flotation comes as the listings market has slowed dramatically this year. US-listed IPOs total less than $15 billion year to date, the slowest pace since 2010. Fitbit’s pitch to prospective investors shows it is profitable and growing fast, with plans to expand into broader consumer-health services.
