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Multiple bidders for Adshel, says owner HT&E

Here, There & Everywhere has received a number of bids for its outdoor advertising division Adshel, the company has told the ASX.

The update came hours after Ooh Media revealed that it had upped its offer for Adshel to $470m, but based the offer on being able to go into a period of exclusive negotiations which would lock out other potential bidders.

However, HT&E – which also owns ARN, Conversant Media and Emotive – said the offer from Ooh Media is “not the most attractive” currently in front of it. A previous bid from Ooh Media was also rejected by the HT&E board last month.

HT&E said in the ASX update that the new Ooh Media bid was “not in the best interests of the company and does not offer compelling value for shareholders”.

It argued that the bid undervalues Adshel, particularly given that any sale would create “dis-synergies” across the remaining businesses in its group. HT&E also owns ARN, Conversant Media and a stake in Emotive.

The company added: “HT&E had offered to engage with OML to enable it to more appropriately value Adshel so as to improve their price, including by providing further due diligence financial information subject to execution of a confidentiality agreement and on a non-exclusive basis. That offer was declined by OML.

“The Board and management of HT&E continue to remain focused on the operations of the business, including Adshel, and are confident in the attractive growth opportunities available to Adshel under the ownership of HT&E should HT&E determine that the best value will be delivered to shareholders by retaining rather than divesting the business.”

The business has hired CLSA Corporate Finance and Credit Suisse to assist in reviewing the proposals.

HT&E’s market capitalisation was just under $700m at lunchtime, down 1.7% for the day. Meanwhile, Ooh Media had risen by 1.7% to $900m.

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