The consortium seeking to take over Gresham Hotel Group yesterday predicted that it would have a 30 per cent approval rate for its offer before the end of the week.
The forecast came as the Precinct consortium extended its offer for Gresham until June 29th after receiving an acceptance rate of 28.25 per cent by Tuesday's first closing date.
Precinct needs approval in respect of 54 per cent of Gresham's shares for its €1.30-per-share offer to become unconditional. The investors involved in the takeover effort - Mr Bryan Cullen, Mr JJ Murphy and Mr David Coleman - have said that they would raise their offer to €1.35 per share if the acceptance rate reached 80 per cent.
Yesterday, they proclaimed themselves "absolutely delighted" with the level achieved at the first closing date, remarking that they were half-way to their first target.
This interpretation was immediately turned on its head by Gresham's largest shareholder, Red Sea, however, with a spokesman pointing out that the majority of Gresham shareholders had not supported the Precinct bid.
Red Sea, which holds 24 per cent of Gresham as well as 4 per cent in preference shares, is opposing the Precinct offer. The Israeli hotel group's spokesman described the level of response as "paltry", and urged all shareholders to reject the offer.
"Gresham's core business has been neglected for far too long and the sooner Precinct lapses its offer, the sooner the board of Gresham can concentrate on its core business," the spokesman said.
The Gresham directors who are recommending the Precinct offer said that shareholders were clearly responding to the guidance that they had provided in the offer document.
It meanwhile emerged yesterday that mystery Gresham shareholder, Mr Balram Chanrai, has raised his holding in the company from 10.3 to 10.98 per cent. Mr Chanrai bought a further 550,000 Gresham shares through the Discount Bank of Israel at the start of this week, paying €1.28 per share. He has, on a previous occasion, paid €1.34 per share.
Mr Chanrai has not yet outlined any intentions he might have for his Gresham stake, which has drawn the attention of the Takeover Panel.
Shares in Gresham fell two cents to €1.28 yesterday.
