Regent sets out bid terms for Urbium

Regent Inns has made its third approach for Urbium, which values the Tiger Tiger operator's shares at 975p each.

Regent said it had written to the Urbium board setting out terms of its final offer, which it said would not be increased.

It added the offer was conditional on being able to conduct due diligence investigations "necessary prior to announcing a formal offer".

Walkabout operator Regent said its offer represents a premium of 54 per cent over the closing price - 635p - of Urbium's share price on June 7.

It added the cash component of the offer meant an increase of more than 78 per cent over the value of the cash alternative contained in Regent's 820p per Urbium share offer, which Urbium rejected.

No response had been received from Urbium, Regent said, and it believed the terms of its final offer "should now be made known to Urbium shareholders".

Regent's executive chairman Bob Ivell said in a statement: "I believe that the final offer should be very attractive to Urbium shareholders in current circumstances.

"I am concerned that previous delays in responding to our proposals and the refusal to enter into discussions by the Urbium board...may serve to frustrate the creation of value for both sets of shareholders."

Responding to Regent's proposal Urbium chief executive Steve Richards said: "The board of Urbium received another indicative proposal from Regent at 9am this morning (Tuesday) and they expected a response by 3pm this afternoon.

"We've spoken to a large proportion of our shareholders and we are minded to reject this indicative offer. If the price is right, fair enough. It isn't."

Mr Richards rejected Regent's call for access to its books and said the matter had not reached the stage where Urbium was prepared to negotiate with its pursuer.

"We are committed to delivering the best value to our shareholders and this approach doesn't represent that," he added.

Urbium is believed to have received interest from other interested parties who were prepared to make conditional or cash offers for the group.