THE odds on Owners Abroad seeing off the #290m bid from Airtours
shortened yesterday as a block of Owners shares moved into friendly
hands.
Thomas Cook, the German-owned travel agent which is proposing an
alternative deal to the Airtours offer, picked up around 8.4% of the
Owners' equity which could be enough to deny Airtours success.
The bid is poised on a knife-edge and is due to close at 1pm today.
The stake which changed hands is believed to have come largely from
Gartmore, though this was not confirmed.
Mercury Asset Management has already indicated its intention to accept
in respect of its 15% holding but this has been partly offset by a
decision by Phillips & Drew Fund Management to reject it for its 11%.
Meanwhile, Airtours said it had increased the cost savings arising
from a merger to over #20m a year as a result of recent contracts signed
with suppliers. Owners countered by saying the proposed link with Thomas
Cook would yield benefits of #9m in 1993-94 and #11m in the year after
that.
Owners' shares slipped 9p to 138p on growing expectation that the bid
will fail.
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