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Candover courts Mirror
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January 18, 1999: 7:40 a.m. ET
British newspaper publisher says venture capital group is offering 200p per share
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Venture capital group Candover Investments has made a sweetened bid for Britain's Mirror Group just days after merger talks with rival newspaper publisher Trinity foundered over clashing views of the role Mirror's chief executive would play in a new company.
Mirror Group, a leading national newspaper publisher whose flagship titles include The Mirror, The Sunday Mirror and The People, said Monday it had been approached by Candover with a cash offer of 200 pence per share.
The deal is valued at about 800 million pounds, or $1.32 billion dollars, according to the Financial Times.
Candover, an investment group with more than $300 million in gross assets, plans to merge Mirror with its subsidiary, Regional Independent Media, to spawn the U.K.'s biggest media group.
The offer represents a modest premium to Mirror shareholders over Mirror's Friday closing stock price of 173-1/4 pence. Trinity's proposal had valued Mirror shares at 165 pence.
A Mirror Group spokesman said Mirror's board planned to meet Monday to discuss the bid from Candover.
Mirror shares surged more than 18 percent in London Monday, rising 31 pence to 205 pence on active trading volume of 5.1 million shares.
Regional Independent Media, publisher of the Yorkshire Post, held talks with Mirror about a merger late last year that bore little fruit, the Times reported.
A merger between Mirror and Trinity would have created a vast publishing empire with interests in England, Wales and Scotland.
But talks with Trinity broke down last week amid reports that the companies could not agree on the role Mirror's chief executive, David Montgomery, would play in a new entity. Trinity's board is apparently keen to avoid any deal that would include a prominent leadership role for Montgomery.
A Mirror spokesman said Monday the ball was now in Trinity's court to reply with a more attractive offer.
Trinity is the largest publisher of regional newspapers in Britain, with operating profit of 40.9 million pounds ($67.48 million) in 1998, up from 36.9 million pounds ($60.88 million) a year earlier.
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Trinity
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