From a company planning to shut down because it could not find an acceptable takeover offer, Plus Markets is suddenly at the centre of a bidding war.
News in the middle of last month that Plus planned to shut down its exchange - which hosts 150 companies including Arsenal, Quercus Publishing and Adnams - prompted interest from interdealer broker Icap. The two started talks about a sale of the business for a nominal £1.
Then on Thursday Dubai-based Gulf Merchant Bank stepped in, saying it would make a substantially higher offer for the junior market, but Plus seems keen to stick with the original Icap deal. In a statement Plus said:
Although the headline consideration from GMB appears greater that than offered by Icap... the terms put forward are such that the GMB proposal is materially less attractive in terms of net financial benefit to the group's shareholders.
It also said the GMB proposal was not "a revised offer", as the Dubai business said, since there was no original offer which could be presented to shareholders.
Plus shares are steady at 0.425p while Icap is down 2.9p at 337.5p
