Rodinheights takeover of Green looks set to succeed

The proposed takeover of Green Property by Rodinheights, the consortium led by Mr Stephen Vernon, looks almost certain to proceed without upset, analysts have said.

Rodinheights told the stock exchange on Monday that its offer had been approved by 76.7 per cent of the Green's shareholders before last Friday, the initial deadline for acceptances. The offer needs to achieve an 80 per cent acceptance rate before it can be declared unconditional.

Rodinheights, which is controlled by Mr Vernon, Merrill Lynch and ICC Holdings, has extended its €1.05 billion offer for Green until August 16th.

"It looks like a done deal," said Mr Peter Frawley, analyst with Merrion Stockbrokers, adding that the acceptance rate already achieved was unusually high for this stage of the process.

Institutional investors tend to hold out until the last minute in such deals in the hope that a rival bid will arrive on the scene, but do not appear to have done so in this case, he said.

"That means that there is practically no chance of another bid," Mr Frawley added.

There had been speculation that Deutsche Bank Real Estate Private Equity would produce a competing bid, despite Rodinheights having already beaten off competition from Treasury Holdings.

Green managing director Mr Vernon said yesterday that he was "hopeful" of Rodinheights achieving the 80 per cent target before the new closing date.

Mr Vernon is set to hold a 2 per cent stake in the new company if the leveraged bid is successful.

Shares in Green Property closed up two cents at €9.73 in Dublin yesterday. Rodinheights has undertaken to pay €9.80 for each Green share, a 27.6 per cent premium on the company's share price on April 16th, the day before Mr Vernon and his associates made their initial approach.