Laxey Partners, the activist shareholder group, has taken control of Spazio Investment, an Aim-listed Italian property company managed by Pirelli, the Italian group.

Laxey last month made an all-cash offer of €4.50 for the ordinary shares in the company, which was later increased to €5.125, valuing Spazio at about €117.6m (£101m). The proposal was rejected by the company, which considered that even the revised offer price materially undervalued its shares.

The arbitrageur, acting through one of its vehicles, Terra European Investments, yesterday declared its offer unconditional. Valid acceptances were received for 8.6m Spazio shares, representing 37.5% of its capital, while Laxey already owns 15.2m shares, taking its stake to about two-thirds of the company’s stock.

Financial Times, The Times