Nottingham-headquartered car retailer Pendragon has further extended the ‘put-up or shut-up’ deadline for Hedin Group to make its firm offer for the business, though has said “there can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made.”
The Hedin Group, which has over 200 car dealerships, is a family-owned company with operations mainly in the sale and service of vehicles, wholesale of spare parts and tires for vehicles and rental car operations.
Back in September Pendragon received an unsolicited, preliminary and conditional proposal from Hedin Group regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Pendragon at 29 pence per share, valuing it at £400m.
Then on 24 October, Pendragon confirmed that the put-up or shut-up deadline had been extended to 21 November to allow Hedin Group to finalise its necessary due diligence.
Now, “in order to finalise the necessary transaction documentation,” the company has requested and been granted an additional extension to the date by which Hedin Group is required either to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Pendragon or to announce that it does not intend to make an offer.
This must now be made by 9 December 2022.
Another bid for the firm however may yet be made, following speculation reported by The Telegraph that Constellation Automotive, the group behind Webuyanycar and Cinch, could launch a rival offer.
Pendragon recently found itself embroiled in a $60m ransom demand after a cyber security breach.
