Bids flow in for Rentokil centres
Troubled Rentokil Initial today said it hoped to get more than £300m (€439.7m) from the sale of its conference centres.
Rentokil, a bid target for former Granada boss Sir Gerry Robinson, revealed it had received more than 20 indicative bids for Initial Style Conferences since August.
In a statement today, the company said: “No party indicating a bid at or below £300m is being taken through to the next phase.”
Rentokil said it had whittled down significantly the number of interested parties still in the race. Venture capitalist 3i is said to be among those still involved.
Rentokil said that although it expected the sale to be concluded by the end of November, there could be “no certainty” that it would go ahead.
Rentokil, which offers services ranging from hygiene and rat-catching to security, announced plans to dispose of Style in August.
It was part of a strategy to halt the slide in profits across the Rentokil group and came in the same week that it emerged Sir Gerry was considering an approach for the company.
Earlier this month, Sir Gerry called on the board of Rentokil to let him mastermind the turnaround of the services group.
Sir Gerry’s investment vehicle Raphoe warned that it would consider a takeover offer, or more likely call a meeting of shareholders, if the Rentokil board rejected the proposals.
As previously indicated by Rentokil, profits fell 19.8% in the first half of the year to £135.4m (€198.5m) after it continued to suffer from tough trading conditions and previous restructuring efforts.
Style was acquired as part of the BET group of businesses in 1996 and has always operated on a standalone basis.
It operates 29 centres around the UK, including four in Surrey and Buckinghamshire and three in Hampshire, which provide facilities for conferences, meetings and training.
Rentokil said it decided to offload Style because its business characteristics were substantially different from the rest of the Rentokil group.
