MELBOURNE: Just Group yesterday (June 12) confirmed its rejection of a takeover bid from Premier Investments. Announcing the rejection, which followed Premier's extension of its offer to July 18 2008, Just Group chairman Ian Pollard said the extension should hold little sway with shareholders.
"The fact that Premier has had to extend its offer highlights that Premier has so far found no real support from Just Group shareholders for its materially inadequate and structurally unattractive offer."
Premier chairman Solomon Lew said Premier had extended its offer "to give Just shareholders the chance to properly consider Premier's detailed response to Just's inadequate Target Statement and to allow the Just Board the opportunity to provide a detailed analysis in relation to its future prospects, including a forecast for the 2009 financial year and underlying operating assumptions."
"We are disappointed that Just in unwilling to engage in meaningful debate on the real issues in this takeover bid: that is, the economic and retail environment and its expected impact on Just's sales and operating costs. This is critical information for Just's shareholders in assessing the Premier offer."
Just Group's Ian Pollard however advised Just shareholders to reject Premier's offer by ignoring all documents sent to them by Premier.