WeBuyAnyCar owner drives out improved bid from private equity giant Apax

THE owner of WeBuyAnyCar comfortably saw off a low-ball takeover attempt from private-equity house Apax today despite the buyout firm improving its original £1.6 billion approach.

BCA Marketplace has been in the bid spotlight for the past month since Apax first revealed its interest. Apax put forward a 200p-a-share proposal in early May, which was swiftly rejected.

Apax, advised by Rothschild, came back with a higher potential cash offer, thought to be in the region of 220p a share, which was again rejected out of hand.

Sources said major shareholders, including Invesco and veteran stockpicker Neil Woodford, were unimpressed with the approach and Apax has withdrawn two days ahead of a “put-up-or-shut-up” deadline, meaning it cannot make another approach for six months unless another bidder emerges.

The shares barely budged today, dropping 2%, or 4.5p, to 216.5p. One company watcher, N+1 Singer’s Matthew McEachran, called the approach “opportunistic” based on weakness in the share price earlier this year. “We had a target price on the stock of 275p before the bid situation and we didn’t think that was very aggressive. We would have expected something around that level to get shareholders interested.”

Another source said any potential bid would “have to start with a three” to bring the board to the table. “This was a waste of time,” he added.

BCA, led by executive chairman Avril Palmer-Baunack, said: “After careful consideration, the board of BCA concluded that the proposals undervalued the company and its attractive prospects.”

Last week it posted record results for the third year in a row, with growth across all its divisions and an 18% rise in profits.

The company has also landed several contract wins, notably with carmaker BMW, since the year end.