"Mystery bidder signals twist in the Talarius tale
28 November 2006
The deal in which Australia's Tattersall's is buying the largest UK adult gaming centre operator, Talarius, may not be conclusive. On Friday, a late bidder signalled his approach by buying six million Talarius shares, although he has yet to be identified, and no counter offer had been put on the table by this morning.
It was recently confirmed that a bid for Talarius - which has nearly 200 Quicksilver centres in the UK - had been made by a joint venture controlled by the Australian lottery operator and the Macquarie Bank.
The offer was 270p a share in cash, valuing the business at £137.2m, and would represent the first European purchase for Tattersall's, which took a 10 per cent stake in Talarius at the end of last year.
Talarius CEO Nick Harding said that one of the contributing factors to shareholders' decision to sell was due to the forthcoming introduction of a smoking ban in the UK, which he said would lead to 'choppy waters' in the business in 2007. He and his management team would be staying under the terms of the deal.
The floating of Talarius in April 2005 saw shares initially sold at 80p each.
The mystery bidder may be Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, according to some speculation in the national press."
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