Lighthouse Group has rejected a £17.43m takeover bid by AFH, with the former’s share price going up by nearly 10 per cent following the news.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, AFH said it made an initial approach to the board of Lighthouse on Wednesday 9 March and submitted a proposal on Tuesday 15 March.
But the board of Lighthouse declined to meet AFH and rejected the offer the next day.
In the statement AFH said its board is currently considering next steps in connection with any offer for Lighthouse, for which it will require appropriate access.
“The indicative AFH offer was subject to certain pre-conditions, which can be waived, including the unanimous recommendation of any indicative AFH offer by the board of Lighthouse and satisfactory completion of due diligence.
“There can be no guarantee that any offer will be made.”
Both AFH and Lighthouse are Aim-listed and the former’s original offer was based on each of the latter’s shares costing 13p.
This was a 27 per cent premium on Lighthouse’s share price as of Tuesday 8 March, the day before the initial approach, which was 10.25p.
Since then Lighthouse’s share price has risen to 14.25p - increasing by 1.25p over the course of today.
Under stock exchange rules, AFH now has until 5pm on 14 April to announce whether it will make a firm offer for Lighthouse.
Consolidator and national wealth management firm AFH, which is based in Worcestershire, was founded 25 years ago by Alan Hudson and has funds under management of around £1.9bn. At the end of last year, it raised £6.37m through the placing of new shares to help fund more acquisitions.
Lighthouse is London-based and last month announced profits before tax of £900,000.
