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Crown chair launches takeover bid
Jeff Chapman, chairman of Crown Sports, has made a 5p per share takeover bid for the AIM-listed golf and country club group.
The bid, made by Bennelong UK - a company set up by Chapman for the deal - values Crown at £14.5m. It represents a premium of 100 per cent, to the closing price of 2.5p per Crown share on 15 October - the day before the announcement was made.
Bennelong represents 35.15 per cent of issued share capital of Crown, it owns 29.99 per cent and has letters of intention to accept the bid from shareholders representing 5.16 per cent.
Crown Sports released a statement acknowledging the announcement and saying that a response will be made 'as soon as is practicable'.
In the meantime, Crown has 'strongly advised' shareholders to take no action and retain their Crown shares.
Interim results for the six months to 30 June 2002 saw Crown's turnover up to £19.5m from £12.9m in 2001, but operating profit static at £2m. The group owns 54 clubs - up from 45 at December 2001. At the time, Chapman said: 'Trading looks likely to continue to be tough for the remainder of the year. However, we are tackling the conditions realistically and are ensuring costs and overheads are tightly controlled.'