( www.sundayherald.com ) – Paul Myners, the Marks & Spencer chairman who led a Treasury review of institutional investment, has warned that companies’traditional means of fighting off takeovers are redundant because of the pressures of hedge-fund investors in the UK market.
He said he was “shocked†to discover that M&S’s share register had “effectively collapsed†while the retailer was fighting off a bid from Philip Green’s Revival vehicle in summer 2004.
He told the Sunday Herald: “What it meant was that the arguments you normally go to your shareholders with – such as, ‘look don’t sell the company, look at the excellent long-term value’ – became irrelevant. For them, it became a simple cash arbitrage decision. They were saying ‘Green’s offering 400p’.â€Â
