Liontrust Extends GAM Bid Offer Period as Seeks Investor Backing

Liontrust Asset Management Plc is extending the offer period to buy troubled asset manager GAM Holding AG as it tries to push ahead with a bid that has run into investor resistance.

(Bloomberg) — Liontrust Asset Management Plc is extending the offer period to buy troubled asset manager GAM Holding AG as it tries to push ahead with a bid that has run into investor resistance.

The London-based firm has decided to push out the deadline on its tender offer by three days to July 28, GAM said in a statement Monday. It reiterated that it will not increase the price of the bid.

GAM’s decision to sell itself to Liontrust for the equivalent of 107 million Swiss francs ($124 million) has drawn opposition from some of its investors who question the price and logic of the deal.

Rival investor group NewGAMe SA, led by French billionaire Xavier Niel, has announced a partial counteroffer of 0.55 Swiss franc per share in cash for as many as 28 million GAM shares. GAM’s third-largest investor GEM has also rejected Liontrust’s offer, Bloomberg News reported last week.

Still GAM’s largest investor Silchester earlier this month expressed support for the Liontrust offer and said it will tender its shares representing about 17.3% of GAM’s share capital.

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