M&S: Firm gets bid Panel backing

STORES group Marks & Spencer has piled the pressure on Philip Green this week by getting the Takeover Panel to give him five weeks to 'put up or shut up'.

More than a month has passed since billionaire Green said he was considering an offer and Marks is getting fed up with the uncertainty.

City sources said the retailer approached the Panel and asked it to set the clock running on Green's bid.

This gets the timetable under way ahead of the strategy presentation by new M&S boss Stuart Rose on 12 July.

Green says he won't show his hand until he has clarified the pension liabilities. M&S's nine pension trustees, including finance director Alison Reed, company secretary Graham Oakley and former clothing chief David Norgrove, are hoping to meet tomorrow to consider whether a highly leveraged takeover bid would put pensioners at risk.

Green's latest proposal of 'not less' than 370p per share involves him taking on £9.4bn of debt. This would make the company finances less secure so trustees are likely to demand an increase in the annual pension contributions. Green wants detail on how much this would cost.

Having witnessed pension wranglings between WH Smith and bidder Permira, Green is worried that Marks could force him to pay a lump sum in cash to wipe out the deficit. M&S insiders say the trustees do not have this power.

M&S has just £800m of debt, if you exclude its credit card and loans division, so its pension deficit is causing little concern. M&S had a £670m shortfall at the end of March, but has since injected £400m into the fund through a bond issue.

Marks's pension scheme has 42,000 active members, 50,000 deferred members and 34,000 pensioners.