SHARES in Charter International, the owner of historic Scottish engineering stalwart Howden, climbed 3.3% yesterday after predator Melrose was given a put-up- or-shut-up deadline by the Takeover Panel.
The panel, which sets rules on mergers and acquisitions, gave buyout group Melrose until September 6 to make its offer formal.
However, the deadline will put pressure on Melrose because it now must decide whether to proceed without seeing Charter’s books.
Shares in Charter rose 21.5p, to 679.5p, suggesting the City believes Melrose will make a formal offer.
Melrose, which last month raised its indicative bid to £1.6 billion, has said it would not be appropriate to proceed without due diligence.
Charter, which is also under pressure from large share-holders to open its books, recently issued a profits warning sparked by problems at its welding tools unit ESAB.
However, the order book at Renfrew-based Howden, which also operates a compressor-making plant in Glasgow, remains buoyant.
Howden, which is one of the world’s largest and oldest manufacturers of air and gas handling equipment, makes high-quality compressors for use in the energy, refrigeration and power sectors, and employs around 400 of its 4000 staff in Scotland.
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