Erinaceous, the listed property services firm, has received a takeover approach from private equity company 3i.
The board of Erinaceous this morning confirmed that it has received preliminary approaches ‘which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company’.
Shares in the company soared on news of the approach, and are now trading at around 270p a share, off a high of 290p a share when markets opened this morning. The share price closed at just over 210p at close of trading on Friday.
Erinaceous said that a further announcement will be made in due course.
It is understood that 3i is willing to bid between 300p and 330p a share, which would value the company at about £350m.
It is likely that the management, led by chief executive Neil Bellis, would remain in place in the event of a takeover, as well as reaping the rewards of the bid as major shareholders.
Erinaceous’ value has slumped in the last six months following its involvement in an ongoing valuations fraud court case involving its employee Ian McGarry.
